A Chance Worth Taking
by CrescentMoonChild
Summary: Kagome is changed, whether for the better or the worst is still unclear. After she is stripped of her humanity, the once optimistic time-traveler is now cold and untrusting. Her home is no more, all past friends are gone. What will she have left to save her from becoming...unreachable? Look and see if the Young Justice team can lend a helping hand.
1. Forced Vacation with No Breaks

**I own nothing from Inuyasha or Young Justice. This is purely for entertainment.**

**Chapter 1 Forced Vacation with No Breaks**

There was not one darn thing that could change that youki's mind. No matter what she said, it was the same ending to a very short conversation. She was going back.

On top of it all, it was disguised insultingly as a trip. One that apparently included mounds of never-ending paperwork on boring battle strategies, topography charts and background information on enemy youki whereabouts.

All of these were to be practically stapled onto her forehead, as she _enjoys_ her vacation.

Releasing the sigh that was constricting her chest, she decided to put it out of her mind, at least for the moment, so she could indulge in the soft breeze for a while longer. It was happening whether she wanted it to or not, so why bother making a spectacle of her person, kicking and screaming all the way down?

A wonderfully sweet calmness seemed to envelop her, a feeling that she rarely felt anymore, as she stared at her surroundings consisting of a luscious meadow surrounded by high mountain ridges, which were copious with green trees. A thin coat of mist topped off the look.

The scene changed in what seemed a heartbeat.

Black and gray clouds loomed overhead and the rain pummel down on her shoulders, planning to drench her while she stood on the grassy mound she had self-proclaimed to be only for her use.

The weighted armor felt like air on her shoulders, a feeling that told her that she would have to send for a heavier set soon, once time became available. Of course, there was nothing wrong with enjoying the rainy seasons of Japan. But for now, her little army boot camp came first.

The sound of metal clanging and scraping against another echoed off damp walls of the foyers.

A shrill cry was heard not a second later. Most likely it was the new guy who had arrived and had been accepted into their forces earlier in the week.

It would be a long agonizing wait till spring would show its colors, but even so, she was not about to let her master's, and long time friend's, army go without training for the entire flooding season.

It was a strong downpour and the flash of lightning made its début before the roaring thunder.

The men had spared for almost three hours and were drenched with rain water rather than sweat, as they tripped, fumbled and slammed into mud. It was almost humorous for her when she saw a few brawny men plucking desperately at their eyes after they crashed on the ground, trying to get a hold of some grass blades.

She gave the command to rotate sparing partners. Before her eyes, the field was a network of busy bodies, turning and scrambling to regain their weapons and find another opponent. The sight warmed her a little. Despite the blasts of lightning and their fatigue, her men listened attentively, obeying every command and dutifully accepted criticism.

A palace courier appeared, almost suddenly, standing a few feet away, "Excuse the interruption…_General_. The lord of the castle…demands your presence in…his th-throne room." He bowed low, or as low as his already podgy body could without looking silly.

Beginning confident, the short stocky man stuttered out of nervousness towards the end, as the large group of warriors locked on his body.

The hundred or so men abruptly stilled in their sparring practice to glare at the messenger with unrestraint hatred. The air was thick with the smell of battle. The messenger judged if he didn't make for an escape soon, he would probably never see tomorrow.

No one ever spoke to their commander and general in such a disrespectful way. They began to stalk towards the frail man when a hand from their general stopped them.

One warrior, incredibly, had the confidence to come closer and stepped toward his general.

He had a vibrant orange mane that complimented beautifully with his light green orbs. His physique was also nothing to skim over, at least not for the crowd of young maidens swooning outside the training grounds.

"But this cur had the nerve to…!" It looked as though he was going to speak for the entire army's discontentment.

A small glance from their general stopped his speech cold. His eyes were downcast to the dirt ground, filled with shame for speaking out of turn. A soft hand lifted to rest on his cheek.

The warrior and the men standing at attention stared, with their eyes widening in slight surprise.

"It is my lord who calls for me. I may not be back for a while." their general explained.

Turning around, now with her back to her forces, she added, "In the time I am gone, you all will train from dawn to noon, take only a ten minute break to rehydrated, and continue till dusk."

They all looked ready to groan, when a look from their general changed their minds.

"I want you all to train as if your life were on the line, with your heart and soul together. Nothing is won through half-assed determination and skill," their general continued. A serious look came over the general's face.

"And remember that I will know if you had skipped out on training." They all nodded and bowed in respect to her instructions.

The general began to walk, her long snow-powdered mane flowing around her, towards her residence.

The only noises that the army could hear now were the heavy thumps of the general's sole covered boots and the soft patter of rain water.

"It has been decided." A cold emotionless voice bounced off the damp walls, the owner of whom sounded a bit more than peeved for he had already repeated the statement twice.

Sitting on a jewel encrusted chair certainly made the image of royalty jump alive to anyone that either knew this man or not.

The whole scene practically cried out _'I am royalty! Bend to my words'_. Dark shadows cascaded, almost flowing over the man's form and face from his army general/strategist.

Said person was kneeling with one knee on the ground, the other in a bent position supporting an arm, and had a full crown of silver hair facing the semi-invisible man.

They were in a building which looked like a medieval castle, the ones that look as if actual gods had once dwelled within each private room and walked among its corridors.

Its walls were painted the darkest shades of blue and there were marvelous paintings, statues, and furniture strategically placed so to enhance the value of the room. Twin chandeliers hung from its stone ceiling, twinkling rainbows when the torch lights hit its crystal surface.

It would have been impossible for a normal person to distinguish the treasures with only the flicker of several candles and torches to aid in their sight, but then again, the two sole residents did not need such aid.

An almost inaudible sigh traveled through the stagnant atmosphere.

"I do not know if I will fit in back there. I have been away for a long time, but, if you say it is important for me, I will go."

The voice was reluctant and had given the impression of a child not wanting, but compelled to abide to a parents wish.

"I am not sending you away indefinitely, nor is this sentence a punishment. I want to make this clear to you. I decided this because it would not be beneficial to my new training forces to receive you as you are now. It would be an insult to your experience if your mind is not clear of your past mistakes."

Her head shot up. Silver strands whipping around her heart-shaped face.

"I have not been a hindrance, have I? I haven't been neglecting my duties as general or my time training, so what must I work on?" It was a desperate plea, though her face and voice betrayed no such emotion.

"You have lost something." It was a simple answer, but still vague as heck. "Something important that distances yourself from your men. It would be best for you to go back there to regain what you let slip away."

Silence dragged on for a moment. She released the air she hadn't realized she was holding. Her head fell again.

"I don't understand."

This wasn't fair at all. Plus, there was the issue of a certain demon thug trying to pass off as another 'even more bad than Naraku' kind of pansy. Some secretly acquired information about him via spies and some of her best human and demon warriors had confirmed he was all smoke and no flame, but that didn't undermine his ability to flap his useless gums. In a few months, there will be an army for her and her lord's forces to fight and defend against for the House of the Moon.

The figure straightened. "You do not have the option to negotiate or refuse my ruling. You will go and you will return when you have regained what it is you now lack."

The figure's words stung her heart. She didn't understand why he was sending her back there. She wanted to put everything that reminded her of that place, of the past, out of her sight. That was the entire reason she left with him in the first place and served under him, now she had to go back?

She felt the sting of tears behind her eyes. Blinking rapidly to rid the evidence of weakness, she hoped that her moment went unnoticed. It didn't.

The voice was softer than it had been in the beginning, like it was now consoling a frightened child than a war-hardened demon fighter.

"Do not despair, I will not be sending you back to Japan. I will however be sending you somewhere on your home planet, so you will have to adapt to their customs on your own."

Once he was sure she would not try to defy him, he nodded slightly, barely even visible to see, and continued.

"Now for your debriefing about the world you will be returning too. According to my spies there are now both aliens and humans that inhabit the planet. Of these humans and extraterrestrials, most will display advantages over ordinary vermin, and it seems that they exert special abilities, ranging from telepathy to excess strength. Others seem to have the same powers as some lower demons, such as a frog demon's control over water."

She grimaced at that. Even thought it had been a while since her first and last encounter with a frog demon, which was all it took to know why people always say not to touch them, and in her case, never let them touch you. They had coarse skin that felt like sandpaper and was also slimy.

"I am confident that these super-humans will not pose as a threat to you. These aliens, though, I want you to study and report back on their strengths and weaknesses. If our planet's protective barrier is ever breached, I want our forces to be ready."

With a monarchs stride, said person left the gaudy throne chair and approached his general, a strange look plastered on his otherwise stoic face.

This made her stand erect rather quickly and have an untrusting gaze directed at her superior, and with good reason.

One could never know what her Lord and master would do at a given moment.

This was one such moment. He threw a rather large and familiar yellow traveling bag into her arms, causing her to grunt as she adjusted to the extra weight. The thing was a bit bulky and had been constantly re-stitched along its edges. A dark purple katana stuck out of its largest compartment.

"In the bag is everything you need essentially. I expect you to be able to find your own meals, so I didn't bother telling the servants to pack food or water." He almost looked like he was going to smirk at the glare she was giving him.

"Also, one more thing." Silently making his way toward a small table towards the wall, there was an emerald encrusted box that glistened in the light. Its anterior had a painting of twin silver dogs; or rather they were demon dogs facing upward, as if they were howling, in alignment to the crescent moon at its apex.

Gliding a pale striped hand over its surface, the box glowed in recognition before snapping open for the Western Lord. He opened its lid fully and lifted out a medium-sized round stone, held aloft by a silver chain. It was, in her opinion, a beautiful necklace.

Walking back towards her, he placed the sliver chain over and around her neck, letting the stone side down to rest on her armor where her bosom would be. It shone brilliantly until it hit her skin, and then darkened to an unrecognizable dark purple.

Ember-colored eyes collided with one another. From what she saw he looked displeased with the way the stone's color changed.

Knowing better than to ask outright, she waited for his explanation that surprisingly came a moment later. A smug feeling came and left her quickly as she thought of how good she had gotten with reading his moods.

"This." he said, with his index finger barely touching the stones mirror surface, "When this has reverted to its clear crystal shine, is when you will return."

Peering down at the stone, she grimaced at the dark violet storm clouds that raged within the glassy confines. A few years ago she would grade this to be next to impossible, but things have changed. Her head bent a bit more, not to look at the orb, but in recollection of the past.

Yes. Many things have changed.

"You will leave momentarily, so if there is anything you wish to say, speak. If not, remove your battle armor." Her head snapped up meeting her lord's similar ember eyes. Having nothing to say, her head lowered again and shook.

She hooked her fingers around and through the strings that held her armor around her torso. Feeling them loosen, she placed her hands underneath and lifted the hundred or so pound breast-plate from her person. Having nowhere to place it, she settled it gently onto the floor, next to her feet.

She felt exposed, almost naked without it.

A moment passed before she felt a hand on her shoulder, making her lean toward its warmth.

"You will return." Small tear droplets curled against the surface her face, but seemed to disappear before reaching her clothes. She nodded in reply.

"I will miss you, My Lord."

Giving her shoulder a quick squeeze, the warm hand left and she was left feeling as cold as when she had entered the throne room.

"You will not neglect your training or your duties as general while you are there. While I may not be able to leave my lands unattended to straighten you out, I will promise that if there is a decline in your work when you return there will be severe consequences."

This made her chuckle a bit, in both humor and fear. Her master's lips curved a little as she laughed. A thought hit her then about what he had said earlier.

"You said that I would be leaving soon" his superior's smug grin widened slightly, making the air turn cold and rather uncomfortable. "When am I to go?"

The man stopped in front of her, towering over with his immense broad structure.

"Goodbye, General Higurashi."

There was no time to react as a pool of crystalline blue light shot up and out from the stone around her neck, engulfing the room and all that seemed to be in it.

* * *

Her eyes were closed as the sun warmed her body. Prickling green blades caressed parts of her exposed arms, which were placed behind her head in a cushioning position.

She had been dreaming of her friends, her adventures and her former love. Her dream was growing more vivid as she drifted deeper and deeper into unconsciousness.

She heard friends that were long gone laugh, bicker, and talk inside her head, as if they were right next to her. Their walks across a vast country terrain and their fierce battles with demons played like a recorder.

Her dream was turning into one of her frequent nightmares. She needed to wake up.

Snapping her eyes open she was rewarded with blinding sunlight that hurt her eyes. She blinked repeatedly until she got used to the light.

Seeing that the sun was not about to move any time soon she sat up.

Moving her body in a circular motion she heard the cracking of several bones along her spinal column and felt her muscles stretch. This was unusual, for it had been years since she last felt her body tangled up in knots.

"I have been out of battle for too long," she realized, adding a long drawn out sigh for effect.

She tried to remember why she was in a field that was neither littered with busy bodies of demon servants or the cries and roars of her men. An open field at that. Why wasn't she at her lord's castle? Why was there an absence of clanging metal?

Once her mind had cleared from her nap she was able to recall her orders.

She had been placed on 'temporary partial-vacation', as she called it, against her will. The memory had her seething.

What was the point in sending her on vacation in the human world, on earth specifically, when she still had to do all of her master's paperwork as well?

Then again, should she really be complaining when she had originally asked for time off? She decided to stop whining and accept her orders before a headache formed.

"I wonder if I can find something to eat." It had been a long time since she had been here and it occurred to her that she was not sure how things were done today.

Then again, the last time I was here was when they…

She shook her head, as if to shake away the memories of them, of her families, and instead focused on her surroundings.

The clearing where she had slept in had trees adjoining the perimeter and small flower patches scattered here and there. A large marble plaque stood alone in the middle of the clearing.

She stood from her spot and strode over to the large stone. It read:

NATURE RESERVE PARK

ENDORSED BY WANE ENTERPRISES.

Her ears perked up at the roaring of tires on asphalt and the smell of melting rubber. Taking this information, she deduced she was near the edge of the park nearest to a thriving active city.

She was ready to jump out of the clearing when she remembered her appearance.

Subtly, she ran her tongue under the front of her teeth, where there was the familiar sharpness of her fangs. Her hands still had deadly claws under her black leather gloves. No doubt she still had her facial markings as well, which indicated her royal status as her lords general.

Looking down she wore white clothing contrasting with her ancient-looking battle yukata. Her best formal attire for war.

She felt the top of her head and outlined two fluffy triangle-shaped ears. Lastly, but totally unnecessary, she grabbed a large section of her hair, pulling it into her line of vision. It was still the color of powdered-snow.

_Damn it_.

Mentally slapping her hand against her head, she cursed her lord's failure to realize that her appearance would be seen as a problem. Then again, he might have just thought she would be able to take care of hiding her appearance by herself.

"Oh well. I'll just have to keep my face covered for now." She felt her person for something to use as a mask.

Nothing.

"Looks like I'll have to improvise." Walking back to where she slept, she ripped open the horribly stitched yellow bag to find her master's white cape and her specially made katana the first on top.

Opening it more, she saw that it was half filled with reference books and a small amount of human currency. Although it looked a bit different from what she had remembered.

The other half of the bag was jam-packed with those dull and dreary paperwork, topography charts and fine-printed negotiation papers. If not for the overwhelming amount of documents this vacation would have been worth while to relax.

A mischievous smile danced across her face as she eyed the flawless design of the bleached cloak.

Wasting no time, she used her claws to tear a long piece of cloth from the bottom half. Her master was much taller than her anyway, and she would definitly look idiotic walking around with the excess material in her hands when she wished to wear it.

Digging around in some of its smaller pockets, she found her hair pins. Saying thanks to whichever servant remembered to pack them; she picked one out and placed it between her teeth.

Gathering her hair up behind her, she twisted it until it formed a large bun to lie against her neck. Holding her fine hair with one hand, she plucked the pin from her mouth and wedged it into the silver strands.

Once she was satisfied with her hair, she turned back to the severed cloak.

The long strip of cloth was large enough to wrap around the bottom half of her face. She then draped the massive cape, which was still long enough to flow down to her ankles, around her shoulders and pulled up the hood to cover her silver locks.

The cloak surprised her by also being large enough to hide her rather endowed bust.

With her form covered underneath the cloak and her face concealed, she closed the flap to her bag. Throwing it on her back; she walked through the adjoining cluster of trees.

She followed her nose to where there was a large population of humans, but there was something else…something that intertwined with everything around her. She couldn't quite place her finger on it, but…

Her hand slammed against her mask where her nose would be. Oh, that's what it was.

"What a stench. This city must be huge, becasue there was no way there would be this much pollution in any small town of Japan."

Forcing her hand down, she continued her stroll. Soon enough a tall building came into view, followed by another and then another.

Concrete replaced the soft grass below her bare feet. She frowned at the sight of many people came into view, not being one for crowded areas.

She ignored the strange looks she received and focused on the sights and sounds. It seemed like a blooming business city. There were shops and large company buildings along every street causing her to feel a bit small.

She was walking along the sidewalk taking in the rush of the metropolis. It hit her that she really didn't know where she was, or for that fact, where she was going.

She caught a group of girls giggling and talking brightly as they walked past her. They spoke English. She sighed in relief that it was one of the languages she had been forced to study back in high school. It was comforting to know that she would be able to communicate with the locals and not be seen as a lost tourist.

About to turn a corner, a whimpering sound stopped her.

A little girl carrying a black and white panda doll, walking the opposite way of her, was whimpering quietly like a helpless pup. Hoards of business men and women, parents and children, even well dressed elders brushed past her, ignoring her sobs, not having the time to waste with helping the child.

Purposely bumping into some of these people, she made her way towards the weeping girl.

"Excuse me." The girl looked up. A small blush spread across the girl's cheeks as she looked at her.

"Y…yes? Can I help you?" The girl stuttered. A smile broke through behind her mask. It would seem the kid was one of those who enjoyed helping others, and had suddenly forgotten that she was in trouble herself.

Not wanting the girl to cry again, she decided to indulge the child, knowing that she was too innocent to look into anything she asked anyway.

"Could you please tell me where I am? It seems that I am lost."

The girl smiled and answered the she was in Washington, softly giggling at her, probably wondering how a grownup could get lost.

The girl began jumping excitedly and asked her earnestly, "Are you headed over to the Justice League Celebration?" The little girl looked eager to lead her toward whatever the celebration was, and by pure intuition, she seemed either lost or separated from her guardians.

Well, it was her time to spend. Might as well learn what has changed since she was last here. Answering her question with a nod the girl offered to walk together to the celebration. Later she found out that the little girl wanted an autograph from one of the members of the Justice League.

"Do you have a favorite person?" The little girl blushed and murmured the name of her crush. A type of bird, or something.

The girl's shoe played with a stick on the cement. "I like all of them. They protect us with their lives. One of them saved my mommy once. I remember he was wearing a black bat suit, though the one that saved me was wearing a very colorful costume."

Her eyes softened as she listened to the little girl. Her innocence was refreshing and oddly enough, it soothed her soul to witness a child's unblemished purity.

"Where are your mother and father? Aren't your parents supposed to be with you?" Her voice had that soothing parental touch to it.

The girl looked up as if she had just remembered something. Her face drained of color and tears rolled down her face once more. "I lost my momma!" screeching into the air, the little girl held her hands to her face as she wailed.

Picking up the girl, she balanced the small child's frame on her hip, while she tried to soothe her with a soft purr, patting and rubbing her hand up and down her back in a comforting motion.

The girl looked at her with round hazel eyes. "Will you help me please? I don't think I'll be able to find them on my own and I'm sure they just thought I was with them when we were walking to the Hall. Please, please can you find them?"

With a slight nod and the girls arms flew around her neck. "Thank you, Thank you!" she cried, her nose already turning red from the tears she shed. Without saying a word she began moving down the sidewalk again, the little girl still on her hip, clinging to her shoulders like a new-born pup.

"Um…what is your name? My name is Lonnie McCain." She sniffled a bit, before attempting to smile.

"Kagome. Higurashi Kagome. It is a pleasure to meet you Lonnie. Don't worry; I'll make sure you return to your parents safely. Mean while, you can tell me all about the League Celebration on the way." She said softly, before asking directions to this Hall of Justice.

^^^^Chapter 1 End^^^^


	2. Curiosity Almost Killed the Dog

**I do not own Inuyasha or Young Justice. This is purely for entertainment. **

**Chapter 2 Curiosity Almost Killed the Dog**

_Boy, this little girl doesn't let up._

Ever since she picked her up, Lonnie, as she recalled, refused to let her grip on her neck loose.

They had walked for a while down streets and sidewalks, trying to find the Hall of Justice. After taking some wrong turns, mostly because of her error, they finally caught sight of the large oval building.

With the girl on her hip, they walked calmly over to a large stone structure that had the words HALL OF JUSTICE written on its archway entrance.

The building was magnificent in its own right, Kagome thought. Part of its structure was dome-shaped and it had a tall section that went upward.

The little girl looked around the lawn, which consisted of a shallow pool that extended for about half a mile in all directions.

"My parents aren't out here. Maybe they are inside the hall already." She turned her eyes pleadingly to Kagome. She mentally gave out a long sigh. How could people who leave their child without noticing call themselves parents?

Her strides were long and even as Lonnie held onto her shoulders. They walked into the HALL OF JUSTICE, which to her was just as gaudy and exaggerated as a certain someone's throne room.

People stood around taking pictures of a group of people behind red ropes. This sparked her interest as Kagome practically had to yank the girl off to set her down on the marble floor. Shouts of excitement from two people came from down the hall.

"Oh, look Kagome! It's the Justice Leagues main members!" Lonnie's eyes lit up as a boy with black hair made himself known to the crowd. "IT'S ROBIN! That's the boy, I mean hero, who saved me before!"

She was practically jumping up and down as they came closer.

A grin crept across her face when she heard a pair of feet come running up to them. Turning towards the noise she studied the middle-aged couple. The mother was crying and the father hoisted Lonnie up into the air as both tried to hug her at the same time.

The father took her hand and shook it fervently while still trying to bury the little girl into his shirt.

"Thank you so much for finding our daughter. Thank you so much." The mother had then taken the little girl into her arms and began reprimanding her for not staying close to her.

"Don't you ever go off on your own again! Do you hear me, Lonnie Elian McCain?" The father calmed his wife down enough to have her give thanks as well.

"Mommy I wasn't that lost! Besides, I had Kagome to look after me, and she was nice enough to help me find you." The woman's eyes shone with gratitude that Kagome found it a bit unnerving.

"You're right, Lonnie." She said, placing her down on the ground before turning to thank their daughter's masked savior.

The father came up to her again, a bit too close for her comfort. "How can we ever thank you enough?"

Kagome's eyes widened a bit, taking a whiff of the fathers sent. Her eyes turned deadly. Leaning in, she whispered something into his ear and watched in satisfaction as the male paled a bit before glancing anxiously back to his wife.

Watching the man smile warily at her once more, he began to usher his family away. Lonnie waved back with a happy smile on her face. Her eyes turned soft as she watched them walk towards a crowd of reporters.

She wanted to wave the family of three off, but… she looked away. There was the build up of pressure in her chest, and then a sharp pain began to spread. It would not last long, she thought, but the pain of looking at such tender moments was still…difficult.

At least Lonnie and her mother can sleep easy now, she thought. Kagome growled as she remembered the smell of the father, his sent mixed in with another more feminine scent that was not his wife's.

It angered her to no end that some men could be so negligent to the concept of loyalty, especially towards their mates. Of course, in the demon world there are laws against these kinds of things, she had made sure of it.

And that was not all. With her Lord now ruling over the demon world, there has been fewer large-scale battles and more peaceful times for full-fledge demons and hanyou's alike. It was good, wasn't it? She should be happy, but…

It reminded her too much of the old days. Simpler days, where her families surrounded her and there wasn't much to worry about. There was nothing, but wondering what tomorrow will bring and longing to uncover the mysteries of the world.

Silver hair and a familiar arrogant smile danced across her mind. Just as quickly, she banished them. She pushed her memories into the furthest part of her mind.

Her hand lifted to her chest, where it outlined the round-shaped jewel. Clutching it in her palm, she wondered if she were to break it, would she be sent back?

Unlikely.

She couldn't go back until this damned stone cleared, so why make it hard on herself? She released the sigh that was held in. Reciting like a prayer the saying that kept her going through those hard times.

_The past can't change, so don't look back. Keep fighting…keep living. _

_The past can't change. Keep fighting…keep living._

_The past can't change._

_Keep fighting!_

_Keep Living!_

_Kami. _

She resisted a growl that attempted to break free. She started to get frustrated when her thoughts wouldn't diverge to something else. Anything would be better than thinking of them.

A large applause broke through her mantra. Her thoughts were thankfully scattered as her attention shifted from her musings to the commotion outside the front glass doors.

Her ears caught a conversation between two young boys in strange costumes. One was in a black and gray costume, outlined with a bat on his chest.

The other, who was talking rapidly, wore a blue shirt that had a large red "S". "Whoa, check it out! There are Batman and Boy Wonder! And Flash and Kid Flash! And…."

The other boy cut in. "Well, Aqua Lad and Aqua Man are the best. Oh! There's Green Arrow and Speedy."

She grinned at their childish antics. Her ears swerved toward the group of men that held the crowd's attention.

The man with the blond goatee and green hood whispered, "Ready to see the inner sanctum?"

"Born ready." The teen beside him replied with confidence. There were four boys and four men as far as her ears could pick up from their footsteps.

Had they just said 'inner sanctum'?

Her curiosity was triggered. A smirk crossed her lips. Why not?

Turning to hide behind a pillar, she placed her hands together as if she were praying, calling her powers out. There was the familiar build up of energy starting from her stomach, coursing through every muscle, tissue and cell of her body, until it surrounded her form.

She felt the invisible barrier slip over her, like gooey pink jelly, to hide her form and scent.

She was suddenly grateful for her master's relentless training exercises. Being only partly invisible, which was easier than screening everything from detection, was not good enough, her master would say. It should be all or nothing, and at these times, she was able to find the necessary appreciation.

She noticed that her prey was on the move. She leapt up into the air and landed silently behind them.

Not one of them was aware of her presence.

Two sliding doors appeared in front of them. Kagome stretched out her powers to see ahead; there were two others behind those doors.

I will have to be very careful about where I step, so to speak. After all, I don't want to miss out on their 'secret sanctum'. Whatever it is.

The doors opened to reveal one red man/robot and one alien. "Robin, Speedy, Aqua Lad, Kid Flash. Welcome," greeted the tall Martian.

She followed the group inside the two doors that had the sign "AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY" as they shut behind them.

"You now have unlimited access to our gym, our food stocked galley and, of course our library." Kagome's sweat dropped.

If this was their way of giving a promotion then she felt sorry for these four boys. They walked into a spacious room filled with books.

Flash spread out his arms in welcome. "Make yourself at home."

Robin, Flash and Aqua Lad sat down in the chairs available. Speedy remained standing, obviously waiting for something else to happen. Kagome leaned against the wall farthest from the other people, taking in everyone's appearance and trying to gauge their abilities.

The adults were obviously stronger and more experienced than the teenagers. Some of their scents radiated their specific power, as her Lord had described.

She found that two, one adult and one rather handsome teenager both smelt of magic doused in salt water.

Another pair, the two most colorfully dressed in the room, smelt of electricity and fast flowing wind, indicating that their powers were ones of physical evolution.

The last two pairs were human as far as her nose could tell her. Catching sight of utility belts on the darker colored ones, she deduced that these super-humans were also above average intelligence as well as physically acceptable in battle.

The last two she didn't need to look at for too long, since they both wielded a weapon she herself had used before, a bow and arrow. These two humans, she thought, would have to be incredible marksmen.

They're all strong in their own right, though she doubted, even if they attacked her all at once, they could take her out. It was not boasting, simply a fact.

The thought made her want to personally judge their fighting abilities. Maybe later, she reasoned. For now, I have to gather as much information as I can without being detected.

With that in mind she looked around, not taking notice of their conversation. There were several books on the farther shelves that she wished to read, but decided not to take the chance of getting caught.

Her eyes scanned the room until it fell on the upper part of the wall.

Her hand softly, lest she warn her hosts they had an extra guest, slapped to her forehead as she saw tourists taking pictures of the 'inner sanctum' behind a glass window on the upper level.

If this was a joke she was not laughing.

This turned out to be nothing more than a tourist attraction, and if this was everything the big secret sanctum had to offer, she was so wasting her time here.

"You're kidding right? You're playing their game? Why?! Because you think they play fair?" Speedy shouted.

Kagome turned her head to see a quarrel had sparked between the hero's and boy side-kicks.

"Today was supposed to be _the_ day." he persisted, "Step one; into becoming full fledge members of the League."

The other boys turned to each other, unsure of what to say. "Well sure. But I thought that step one was a tour of the HQ." Kid Flash voiced.

This seemed to tick the older red-head off as he replied hotly, "Except that the hall isn't really the League's real HQ! I bet they haven't told you that it's just a false front for tourists. And a pit stop for catching zeta beam teleporter tubes to the real thing. An orbiting satellite called the WatchTower in space!"

Kagome's eyes widened a fraction as this new information presented itself.

_Very interesting. _

So this trip inside hadn't left her curiosity unsatisfied, at least. She turned back in time to watch the boy, Speedy, throw his hat down on the floor and walk past her out the automatic doors.

His pride was damaged, as well as the respect he had for his teacher. As he passed by her, his scent drifted under her nose. Her eyes followed him out the door, wondering what was different with his scent, and why it made her uneasy. It smelt of human quality, mainly peppermint, but also something pungent and chemical, as if it were encoded into his very essence.

What was even stranger was that she couldn't place it. After all of her journeys, battles against demons and humans alike in her new demon form, she could not identify this human's scent. How odd.

The doors shut, almost igniting a symbolic closure for the prodigy bow-master. _Guess he quit._ Not that she blame him.

The large television screen came to life as a man appeared wearing, kami help them, a large "S" on his chest. _I swear these guys have to learn some humility._

It was time to leave.

She still had plenty of time to kill and she didn't want any trouble if she got spotted, even if that had a slim chance of happening.

Her barrier to fazed her self through the wall, but not without the fizzing noise catching the attention of Red Tornado via his mechanical ears. The robot shook the sound off as nothing and turned to listen to Batman and Superman converse.

"Superman to Justice League. There has been an explosion at Project Cadmus. It's on fire."

"I've had suspicions about Cadmus for some time. This could be the perfect opportunity to…" Batman was cut off by another distress signal. A thin-looking man with a formal appearance came on a smaller screen below Superman.

"Zatara to Justice League. Wotan is using the Amulet of Aten to block out the sun, requesting full League response."

Batman looked between his two fellow League members, silently waiting for Superman to judge which of the incidents takes precedence over the other. Though, sadly, he could already see that his investigation of Cadmus would be postponed even further.

"It's a small fire. Local authorities have it under control." Superman further explained.

Batman nodded. Although he would have liked nothing more than to slink inside of Cadmus and uncover the obvious dirt he knew he'd find, there were priorities to be set.

"Then Cadmus can wait." With that stoic man turned the screen off and turned to address the three boys. "Stay put."

All of them were stunned. "What? Why?" Robin exclaimed. He didn't understand why their mentors were treating them like children. Batman had always been straightforward with him before. Why was he telling him now that he wasn't allowed to come?

Flash spoke up. "You're not trained to…"

"Since when?!" Kid Flash argued suddenly.

"I meant you're not trained to fight with this team."

"There will be other missions, when you're ready." Aqua Man tried to compromise.

"Until then…stay put." The adults turned around, Batman's cape billowing around him as they walked into an inner room.

After the doors slid shut Flash scoffed "When were ready? How are we ever supposed to be ready when they treat us like…like side-kicks?!" He spat the word as though it had left a bad taste in his mouth.

"My mentor…my king, I thought he trusted me." Aqua Lad said brokenly. His face held down in disappointment and sadness.

"Trust us?" Kid Flash questioned "They don't even trust us with the basics! They have a secret HQ in space!" throwing is hands above his head for emphasis of his statement.

Aqua Lad could help but agree with the speedster. He had been a very loyal and trusting apprentice, yet his King didn't find him capable of keeping this kind of vital information.

Well, he wasn't alone, he realized, as he thought about Kid Flash and Robin's mentors acting the same way towards them. "What else aren't they telling us?"

Robin scoffed at the question, but couldn't help not to think about it. Batman had always kept him in the loop, so what was it about an outer-space hero's station that was so important to keep from them, from him?

And, as his Atlantean friend put it, what else are they keeping from them?

"I have a better question. Why didn't we leave with Speedy?" Robin asked. He watched has his friends heads bent down.

They had betrayed their friend with their inability to act, to challenge their mentors.

Aqua Lad recovered from his guilt first, looked deep in thought before turning to Robin. "What is Project Cadmus?" he asked hesitantly.

Robin was just as confused. "Don't know, but I can find out." Smiling like a Cheshire cat, he walked over to the large computer television and started pressing buttons.

A robotic voice came out. "Access Denied"

"Wanna bet?" Robin smirked. The computer screen was then covered with inscriptions.

Aqua Lad and Kid Flash looked impressed. "Whoa, how are you doing it?"

"Same system as the Bat cave." Robin answered with glee. With fingers dancing across the large lettered keyboard he finally pressed Enter. The robotic voice came back with an "Access Granted" outlined in a green box on the screen.

"Alright, Project Cadmus: genetics lab here in D.C. There's not much else. If Batman's suspicious maybe we should investigate.

"Solve their case before they do? It would be a poetic justice." Aqua Lad replied.

"Hey, they're all about justice."

Aqua Lad sighed and frowned. "But they said to stay put," he reminded the group.

"For the 'blocking out the sun' mission, not this!" Robin reasoned. Flash immediately agreed and both were smiling, waiting for Aqua Lad.

"Just like that, we're a team on a mission?" Robin smirked, predicting that Aqua Lad would join in their first self-assigned mission to help prove themselves to the League.

"We didn't come for a play date." He reasoned.

Seeing that there was no stopping the two younger side-kicks, Aqua Lad relented, allowed his more irresponsible side to take over.

And, oddly enough, liking how it felt.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon and Kagome found herself walking aimlessly through the streets of Washington. Her thoughts focused on her master's mysterious decision to send her here.

What did she need to regain here that she had apparently lost?

Her eyebrows furrowed. She was not of this world anymore, so why was she here? What was his point? She wanted to know.

_Something I have lost? I haven't lost anything, only gained strength. This is pointless, Feh!_

Not paying attention to where she was going, she found herself surrounded by shops, small pubs and restaurants. Her eyes slowly locked onto a couple holding hands outside a café.

_'Is it because you enjoy seeing the envy I have for these people?,'_ she thought bitterly.

The man was leaning over slightly towards the woman as she did the same. They were centimeters from each other when Kagome turned sharply away.

Her stomach grumbled loudly. Her gloved hand went to hold the lower part of her abdomen, as it tightened almost painfully. Looking around she spotted an old-fashioned restaurant.

The first sign above read "BIBBO'S DINNER" accompanied with a "HELP WANTED" sign placed over the front window.

Walking inside she sat down at the dinner counter and ordered the first thing on the menu: a steak with mashed potatoes and green beans.

The chef came out personally, a rather big pot-bellied man wearing a grease stained apron, and placed her order in front of her. From what she saw, he was running the place on his own, not spotting any waiters or buss-boys, it was a real ghost-town.

_'Guess the economy is making it hard for small businesses right now' _she mused, but didn't really care enough to dwell on it.

Noticing a security camera focusing on the restaurant, she turned slightly away.

Waiting till all security cameras faced away from her, Kagome removed her lower mask and devoured her meal quickly. Once she finished she fished out some money for her meal, set it on the table and got up to leave.

"Hey kid, wait a second." She turned to face the same jolly overweight chef that brought out her meal. Why he wished to talk to her she had no idea.

She was sure she placed the right amount of money on the counter. Not that she could really afford to eat anywhere with how little currency she had.

Waiting for the man to continue, he smiled broadly before speaking. "I haven't seen someone like you around in my dinner before, specially dressed like that. Are you one o' them 'Justice Leaguer's, or somethin'?"

She shook her head. "No, I am not. I just arrived here in Washington though. Is there something wrong with my payment?"

The man raised his hands in defense. "Whoa, whoa kid. I ain't worried about the money. Just wonderin' if you would be interested in workin' here."

He sighed and looked around his almost deserted dinner. "Things have been tight around here, an' I just lost my two servers. I'm kinda desperate for part-timers right now, so I was just wonderin'…"

Her eyes held his before answering. "I have no experience."

He smiled, thinking that she might be considering taking the job. "That's no problem. I'll start you off as a host, then after you got the hang of it, you'll be a server. It's really a no brainer job, and you get to keep all the tips you get from the customer's."

He saw hesitation in her eyes, before saying, "I'll tell you what, if you take the job I'll even let you eat here for free. How's that?"

He was trying to sweeten the deal, she thought, as he looked at her with eagerness.

Having to look away from his pleading eyes, she tried to weigh the pros and cons of accepting such a proposition. For one thing, working here would mean the end of her money and eating worries. It also meant that she would have something to occupy her time, even if it was only a part-time job.

On the other hand, what if she accepted the job and had other obligations? Would he need her here all the time? Looking at the lack of servers around it seemed that this 'part-time' job would have a high chance of keeping her till late hours of the night.

Even so, it wasn't like she had a never-ending pile of money stashed in her crummy backpack anyways.

She sighed, knowing that she could not afford to give up her chance of free food, but she needed to know what he needed her to do.

Pulling down her mask once more, she stared at the man's widening eyes. "If I were to accept this job, what would I have to do? I will not stand outside the door waving in customers wearing a mini-skirt, or anything along those lines, just so you know."

The man sputtered for a moment, before shaking his head vigorously. "I…I would never ask you to do that! I would, though, ask that you wear something either white or black, professional looking of course, and wait tables for me. I could start you off at 6 dollars an hour, but that's all I can offer until business picks up again."

Kagome thought for a moment. Nodding in understanding, she opened her cloak, which left her white yukata as well as her bell-shaped figure open for his inspection. "Will this do? I'm afraid I do not have many clothing options at the moment."

His eyes nearly left his sockets as he diverted his eyes from her, covering them with one hand, and quietly stuttered that what she had was fine.

Once she closed her cloak and reset her mask, he gave her the expected working times per week and if she wasn't able to come in, to just give him a call before hand. She agreed to work three times a week in the late afternoons till morning, taking care of any possible obligations she might have in the future during the day. **(Hint, hint.) **

Once everything was in order she bowed towards her new boss and thanked him. They exchanged their goodbyes; he left to go into the back kitchen, leaving her sitting at the counter with her thoughts.

It was then that a television in the corner of the room was turned to show the news channel.

The screen pictured a news reporter near a burning building. Two men in the building were shot out of a window and were falling to their deaths when a blurred person scaled the building and grabbed the two men.

The blur threw them onto the roof, but was not able to get itself over the edge. Kagome recognized the costume as Kid Flash. A giggle escaped her as he hung from the window sill of the two-story building.

Robin was then caught using some sort of wire to swing himself over the window. Kagome saw him help Kid Flash up and jump over into the building.

The men on the roof had no way of getting down now. She narrowed her eyes as she studied the last young hero use water from the  
fireman's hose and create a whirlpool.

His talent for sorcery was adequate and it got the job done, but he still needed more training for him to be considered as a mastered sorcerer.

Kagome mentally battered herself for turning into her master on her vacation. And what a vacation this was turning out to be, she grimaced.

All three apprentices had jumped into the burning building. It was curious to her why they didn't stay outside to deal with the fire.

They must not be there to take care of the fire. It must be something else, but what is it?

She smirked behind her mask.

"Well, well. It looks like the side-kicks are done playing second fiddle." her voice startled the owner/chef, now known as "Bibbo-san".

"Excuse me, boss!" Catching his attention, Kagome continued, "Is there any place where I could place my pack for now? I don't have a place here yet and I don't want to carry it around with me all the time."

Scratching his head, Bibbo replied, "Well there are some steel lockers that the last servers used in the back behind the kitchen. You can use one of them to store your stuff anytime you need to, in thanks for helping me out today." he gave her a smile before heading over to a table that flagged him down.

Kagome ran to the back, through the kitchen and found the lockers in no time. Opening one, she stuffed her yellow backpack inside.

Before shutting the door, she yanked out her katana, sliding it naturally into loop at her side. Casting a suspicious glance around her, she turned back to the closed metal door.

She laid her hand on its surface and let her powers soak into the steel. Taking a step back to look over her barrier protecting her stuff, she nodded once before turning away and heading back out to the front of the restaurant.

"Bibbo-san, I'll come around for work in a couple of days. Is that alright?"

Hearing him holler an approval and goodbye, she walked out the door and began to follow her nose to where she smelled smoke.

* * *

"This is wrong." Robin said while studying the elevator in front of him. He brought his wrist up toward his face, linking his in-built computer courtesy of Wane Tech. Enterprises, and scanned through the diagnostics of the machine in front of him. "Thought so, this is a high-speed express elevator. It doesn't belong on a two-story building."

"Neither does what I saw." Aqua Lad replied.

That thing with horns he saw had been inside this elevator. Something was defiantly going on here. The Justice League would want to know whatever it is that Project Cadmus was secretly working on.

Aqua Lad stepped up to the elevator doors and pulled them open. They looked down to see that the two-story building actually extended for miles.

"And that's why they need an express elevator." commented Robin as he took out his grappling gun. A metal wire shot from the gun and latched on to the top of the elevator ceiling. Without warning Robin jumped in.

Kid Flash and Aqua Lad stood looking at each other for a moment before jumping onto the wire to follow Robin.

This is going on forever, Robin thought.

He followed the sub level numbers…SL 24…SL 25…SL 26. He suddenly stopped moving.

"I'm at the end of my rope." The statement contained a huge amount of irony. Batman was sure to have all of their back sides and his head specifically after this was over.

Robin swung off the wire and landed on the elevators edge. He began working on the system's security system when Aqua Lad and KF showed up. They were both wondering how far down this elevator went, before hearing Robin mutter to himself.

To the boy wonder, the security encryption was a joke, but still much more difficult than that of a regular company. It was making him itch to find out what Cadmus was hiding.

"By-passing security….got it! Go!"

Aqua Lad forced open the doors to the 26 sub-level. "Welcome to Project Cadmus."

* * *

Kagome walked down various streets until she found the scorched building.

Taking in a shallow breath, Kagome cringed as fumes invaded her senses, getting stronger as she walked closer. It still smelled of burning wood and papers, so it had been fairly easy to find.

The fire-fighters were nowhere to be seen and the perimeter was taped off with yellow plastic that said 'CAUTION DO NOT ENTER'.

She crossed the line and jumped through one of the broken windows on the second floor. Scanning the room she didn't see any sign of the three boys that came through only less than hour before her.

She crouched down toward the cool, tile floor and sniffed.

They had been here. Their scents lead her to an elevator shaft that had been forced open.

Looking down its interior, she saw that it went down deep into the earth; so far, in fact, that she could barely glimpse the bottom with her enhanced sight.

Wasting no time she jumped down into the darkness. She had fallen for a couple of seconds before her ears perked up. The elevator cube below her was moving!

She cursed her luck. It was coming fast and she needed to get out of its way before it crashed into her, warning those in the building of her presence.

Twisting her body she kicked herself off of the side edge and through an already opened elevator door. The cube raced upwards past her. Standing up her surroundings looked bizarre.

A few feet in front of her were Robin, Aqua Lad and Kid Flash. They were thankfully too stunned by the massive discovery they had found to notice her.

Kagome leaped and hid in the metal beams above them, listening to every word they said.

This was becoming serious. There was no way she could leave now without learning everything there was about this place. Her own curiosity wouldn't let her live it down.

Under her hood piece her ears twitched as they trained in to listen to their conversation.

"Ok, I am officially whelmed." Robin admitted. He had never seen such creatures in his life.

The beings encased in large glass tubes looked like electric generating firefly's.

"This is how they hid this massive underground facility from the world. The real Cadmus isn't on the grid! It generates its own power using these… things." Flash said motioning towards the glass beings, observing their function.

"Must be what their bred for."

"Of course, even the name is a clue. The Cadmus of myth created a new race by sowing dragon's teeth into the earth." Aqua Lad added.

Kagome first widened and then narrowed her eyes at the comment. Out of experience, she had learned that all myths had their truths. The one with the well in her backyard having magical properties, the myth of the Shikon Jewel, and the myth about demons and such all proved to be real.

In this case, the notion of a secret Greek laboratory trying to make new life did not faze her as it would have done before.

The sad fact was that it was hard to keep dragons under control, because of their urge to battle for right of their ancestral territory. Territory that over time had been taken over by human families and later by their kin.

Now she learned that their existence had not only been uncovered years ago, but had also been hunted, experimented on and slaughtered by humans for their teeth?

She growled low at the injustice.

"And this Cadmus creates new life too." Robin said, his voice lined with subtle curiosity and suspicion. He walked over to an outlet computer and plugged in his own high-tech wrist computer. "Let's find out why."

"They call them Genomorphs. Whoa look at the stats on these things: Super strength, Telepathy, Razor Claws. These are living weapons!" Robin exclaimed

"Their engineering an army, but for whom? Kid Flash questioned, his eyebrows forming a crease in his mask.

That was what Kagome wanted to know as well. Her eyes narrowed at the possibility of this army becoming a threat to her and her master's home.

She made a mental note to make a long list of what knowledge she had acquired, to attach to her master's paperwork when she sent them back to him.

"Wait there's something else." Robin said. "Project Kr. The files encrypted. I can't…"

Robin wasn't able to finish as the room was burst into by a man wearing a golden helmet and about a dozen dog-like aliens. Kagome studied their appearance closely.

They had large pointy ears, red eyes and gray parlor skin with long tails.

In all honesty, they didn't look that much of a hazard. They appeared to be nothing more than some of the lower-level demons she had fought in the past.

Kagome then studied the smaller one on Guardians shoulder. For a moment its horns glowed red.

"Oh, my head…What have I…?" Guardian didn't finish his sentence.

He reopened his eyes and shouted "Take them down hard! No mercy!" The genomorphs attacked as Robin threw a smoke shell down to the ground.

Now was the time to act.

She let her feet dangle over the edge of the metal beam before letting gravity pull her down, slamming on top of a genomorph that had its claws ready to attack Kid Flash.

"Whoa! Who are you now?" She ignored his question and instead went ahead and punched another genomorph, sending it spinning into the air, landing behind the speedster.

Taking the hint Kid Flash began to fight again, but not before shouting thanks to her.

A genomorph to Kagome's right came in swiftly to claw her face, but she merely caught its hand in hers and flung it towards one of its twins.

Aqua Lad conjured up his water magic against Guardian, not knowing where Robin had gone to, nor who this new player was or why he was helping them. **(Remember, Kagome's cloak hides everything from their view, so they can't see that she is a girl yet.)** He guessed he could only be grateful for the help given in a tight spot.

In the middle of the floor Aqua Lad was fighting Guardian. Their punches were evenly matched, but Aqua Lad suffered a hard punch to his lower stomach, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

Kagome ran toward the two warriors and yanked Guardian off of the young hero. Throwing his body over hers and the hero slammed against the opposite wall, creating a body-sized indention in the metal.

Aqua Lad stared at the cloaked being for a moment before looking back towards the creatures. They were slowly beginning to recover and advance on them. A hand appeared in front of his face.

Fixing his gaze on the stranger, he tried to decipher what he wanted, what his purpose was here. Even though he wanted answers, he knew that this wasn't the time to ask.

He reluctantly took the gloved hand that offered assistance, not wanting to turn a potential friend into an enemy.

Flash appeared a moment later, and quickly said, "Time to go."

Kagome helped Aqua Lad to his feet and began running at his side back toward the elevator. Robin was already there working on the by passing the system.

The alarm was starting to severely sting her ears.

Kid Flash ran up to Robin. "Way to be a team player Rob! We were almost sitting ducks back there!" The smallest sidekick didn't detect the furry or disdain in his voice.

"Weren't you right behind me?" The doors opened and they all piled in. After the doors closed the numbers indicating the sub-levels were increasing.

_We aren't going up towards the surface?_

"We are going down. Dude out is up!" Kid Flash exclaimed, while Robin shot him a reprove look through his mask.

"Excuse me? Project Kr is down on sub-level 52. We have to figure out what it is they are hiding."

After a moment, Kagome noticed that she commanded the attention of the three adolescents and, for a more reasonable term, was being observed.

Three pairs of eyes were locked on her, turning her body toward them, she waited for their questions.

Aqua Lad was the first to address her, "I wish to extend my thanks for your help against those things. I would not have been able to overpower Guardian myself, but thanks to you, we were able to escape. If you don't mind me asking…who are you and why did you help us?"

"What? Are you telling me that this guy pops out of nowhere, starts helping you two fight those creepy alien geno-...whatever they are, and then to top it off, helps Aqua Lad and knocked out Guardian?" Robin ranted.

His eyes narrowed suspiciously at the short new-comer. "What are you playing at? Why are you here?"

"Hey, Rob why don't you let him get a word in? He might actually be here to help us." casted Kid Flash, sending him a goofy but strangely serious look to counter the boy wonder's glare.

Kagome turned her attention to Robin, whom she foresaw would be the first to try to interrogate her. Catching the change in the boy wonder's aura, she realized that he was actually in the process of dissecting her, waiting for her to give him information willingly.

Smirking she decided to tell them the truth…well, not all the truth, in fact, not even a fraction of it. The thought made her want to giggle with mirth. It was going to be too much fun, she thought in anticipation of how they were going to explode.

When she regained her stoic composure and held their attention, she felt herself fade back into the cool, collected atmosphere she conversed with the Western Lord.

"In answer to your questions Bird-boy, I helped you because I wanted to. My reason for being here is like yours, as I wished to infiltrate this facility and gain information on any possible dangers that could affect me. I was also curious about what was going on here." Kagome stated as accurately as she could.

Aqua Lad seemed to brood on what she said. After a while, the darker-skinned boy granting her a nod, signaling that he was dropping the matter for now.

It almost made her want to ask him why he gave up so easily. He was either too engrossed with their current situation or was way too naïve and trustful for his own good.

Kagome quickly tossed out the latter, as she knew him to be one of the apprentices of the high and mighty Justice League. Then again, none of these 'sidekicks' even stood up to their mentor's after they realized that they were holding out on a large secret. A space tower circling the earth.

Robin on the other hand, was unwilling to let the matter drop. "Why would you feel the need to come here, of all places?"

Narrowing her eyes at his tone, Kagome simply shrugged.

The change in his scent went from a cool calm to an almost stingily spicy flavor, indicating that he was loosing his patients. And indeed he was, for he had gotten the courage or maybe the stupidity to grit his teeth and stalk up to her.

She knew the boy was only being protective of his friends, but his attitude did nothing to silence the instinct she had to grab the masked boy's throat and slam his body into the wall of the elevator.

"Well, don't think that you're getting away before you answer all of my questions. You being here, with nothing but your curiosity to back you up, is suspicious. On top of that, you seem to know exactly who we are."

Robin turned to face half-way to the two other boys, "I don't know about you two, but I haven't seen this guy around the Bat Cave." His voice dripped with sarcasm, before whipping back to her. "So don't even think about escaping after we get out of here."

A feminine chuckle startled him. Her laughter filled the space between them. Wasn't he just cute? Thinking that he could order her around, like some mongrel second-string warrior.

"I don't know if after this I'll be inclined to answer your questions, Bird boy. But to be fair, I'll see how tired I am after finding out what this place is so bent on hiding."

Aqua Lad intervened then, before a fight started with all of Robin's exploding disks going off at this mysterious person. Though he did not like the way this 'mission' was turning out, he could only think of what was on the last level of this underground Cadmus.

Of course, there was also the feeling of doubt. Should they have done this? Gone out on their own without informing the League, or even worse, their mentor's? And if this level were to be very dangerous, would they benefit by calling the League now for back-up?

"Maybe we should call the League." Aqua Lad suggested, all kinds of thoughts were going through his head, almost giving him a headache.

Taking in what the older boy said, the two other boys bowed their heads. They knew that they should, but…they were just…so close to figuring this out by themselves.

The doors opened once more to reveal the lowest level of Project Cadmus.

Peering out, Kagome sensed a strong physic power towards the right, but before she could give a warning, the boys were already outside the cubical.

Robin acted quickly and leapt out of the elevator. Flash and Aqua Lad followed his lead a moment later.

"Which way?" Aqua Lad asked.

Robin looked back and forth between the two tunnels. He looked confused where to go as well.

"Don't know. Bizarre looking hallway one, or bizarre looking hallway two?" he half-joked. Kagome shook her head before her ears picked up the whoosh of air toward her right.

Shouting a warning, her body moved as if on autopilot. "Get Down!"

Two propane tanks flew towards them at an alarming speed. Robin reacted, pulling out his hand explosives and running down the opposite tunnel away from the explosion.

Kagome jumped as a propane tank exploded, nearly taking out her right leg. Kid Flash ran down the corridor ahead of Robin and the others until he came to a large circular door.

Seeing it closing, he held it open with a medium-sized water tank. "This way!" he shouted.

Both Aqua Lad and Kagome leapt through the door, knocking the tank out from between the doors. It shut automatically and Robin disabled the opening sequence. "I locked the door. We're safe."

"We're trapped." countered Aqua Lad. And he was right. The room was closed off by rock and steel.

"Um guys? You might want to take a look at this." Kid Flash said as he turned on the lights.

A large glass container appeared in front of them. Inside the glass was a boy around 17 years with black hair and wearing a white suit with a red "S" on his chest.

His form was illuminated with solar light. There were three miniature aliens above him that resembled the larger and more deadly genomorphs they had fought.

Although what disturbed Kagome were the big bold letters on his confinement pod. It read in large red letters –Kr-.

This was an experimentation room, Kagome thought as a growl threatened to escape her throat.

The three boys were stunned as they stared at the unconscious boy. They seemed to know him or that he resembled someone they did know.

"Big K…little r. The atomic symbol for Krypton!" exclaimed Kid Flash.

"Is he a comrade of yours?" Kagome looked toward Robin for an answer.

"…" He was snapped out of his thoughts when he mumbled something incoherent.

Kagome waited for a better response, but was denied an answer when Aqua Lad ordered Robin to hack the system for information.

He scanned through the systems encryption efficiently and read the file report aloud.

"Weapon designated Superboy: a clone force grown in…16 weeks! From DNA acquired from Superman. Solar sun suit allows him to absorb yellow sun radiation 24/7."

"And, these creatures?" pointing to the miniature aliens on the screen above Superboy's head.

Kagome had her eyes fixed on them, as they gave her no sign that they were alive, but they were making her suspicious.

Robin continued "Genomorph gnomes. Their telepathic, force-feeding him an education."

"He is a prisoner here." Kagome stated. She walked over to the glass and placed her hand on its surface. "Perhaps now would be a good time to contact your mentors?"

She was in no mood for games. This finding had changed her bored tone into one of authority, complemented with a hint of righteous anger that she only ever used when commanding her master's forces in battle.

The shock on their face's turned into suspicion, but not one countered her remark nor did they challenge her for answers, such as, how she knew they had mentors. Then again, they were heroes and were well-known around the world.

Heck, the Justice League was famous throughout parts of the unknown galaxy!

No one spoke as they went to activate their communicators, only to find that they couldn't send out a signal.

"We're too far deep…Literally." Kid Flash sighed.

Kagome mentally groaned.

Their incompetence and lack of forethought was starting to become a regular cycle. It was no wonder their mentors wanted them to stay by their side. In a real battle they would be killed on the spot.

They stared at the unconscious prisoner, angry because these people, if not experimenting on him, were definitely planning on using him later on.

Kid Flash faced his team, his face void of his usual joking mannerism, "This is wrong."

Aqua Lad looked deep in thought for a moment, before glancing towards Robin.

"Set it free. Do it."

Kagome decided to take action first. Beating Robin to the punch, literally, she raised her fist and sent it flying against the pod, sending pieces of glass shattering onto the ground.

She didn't care that the pod was now in pieces, it made no difference, as long as its prisoner was no longer subjugated inside.

The boy was still for a minute before his hand flexed, cracking as his knuckles rubbed against one another, from lack of use.

The gnome's horns, above his head, radiated a red light.

It was the same ruby tint, Kagome realized, that had controlled Guardian, the hero from when they had first meet.

_Oh Shit._

His eyes opened, blue crystals that connected with nothing. Electricity flowed through her body, though there was something else. She was unable to distinguish what it was before he was on them.

He was quick, but not as agile as her, as she dodged his forward attack, making him crash with Aqua Lad instead. Both Robin and Kid Flash gripped Superboy's arms, preventing him from wailing on Aqua Lad any further.

Superboy freed his left arm from Robin, using it to punch Kid Flash in the jaw, sending him across the room. He was propelled into a glass tube before landing roughly on the ground, knocked unconscious.

Robin swiftly plucked a tube from is utility belt and held it up to Superboy's face.

"I don't want to do this!" Thick green smoke stung Kagome's nose as Robin released the contents from the tube into Superboy's mouth.

Acting on fighting experience, Aqua Lad kicked out his foot, connecting it with Superboy's abdomen, sending him a few feet back.

Robin, pulling out an electric stun gun, tried to subdue the boy. When the wires connected to him, his face was calm as he quickly grabbed them and yanked Robin forward, catching him off guard.

Throwing him to the ground, Robin ended up under Superboy's foot, having his lungs crushed.

Aqua lad ran at him. Forming a water hammer with his sorcery, he connected it with the prisoner's cheek bone, sailing him into the wall. Aqua lad had a good mind to knock him out.

Leaping onto his back Aqua lad used his electricity powers. It seemed to be affecting him, until he jumped so high that Aqua lad hit his head against the rock ceiling. Superboy stood still as the Atlantean slid off his back, unconscious.

All that was left was Kagome.

Superboy turned quickly to see that his last target was still being affected by that green smoke. He would be the easiest target to take down.

How wrong he was.

Kagome saw his attack coming as if it were in slow motion.

She moved not even half a centimeter that allowed her to avoid his attacks. Superboy tried to land many punches, but Kagome, who moved efficiently under the fumes of the gas, had dodged them all.

Her gloved hand made contact with the lower section of his stomach, sending him doubling over. Even though she used only a fraction of her strength, his eyes rolled back, as Kagome put some distance between them.

She cursed her sensitive nose, which was making her light-headed. She readied her stance as Superboy looked ready to fight again.

Superboy lunged with a cry of rage. She gripped his wrist and, using his momentum, flung him into the nearest wall.

He may have super-strength, she thought smugly, but he doesn't have the skills.

Superboy was confused to why he was not winning this battle. He had all the powers of Superman, and yet he was not able to land a punch on this opponent. He had mixed feelings about the predicament.

Perplexed by his weakness, then curious about why the hooded-being was stronger, until he finally decided to settle on anger as a leading emotion.

His eyes were telling enough for Kagome to know that he was not used to losing a fight. Or maybe this was his first fight and he just expected that he would be able to win.

Whatever his reason was, she decided that she could not let this battle continue. If it did, the ceiling would collapse on top of them and they would all be buried alive.

Though she didn't want to hurt him unnecessarily. Opting to use her speed instead of her katana or claws, she waited for him to make to first move.

With a roar, Superboy raised his fists, intent on bashing her head into the wall behind her.

In a second, Kagome, who was standing a few feet in front of Superboy, crossed the room and rendered the dark-haired boy unconscious with a swift blow to his nape. His form landed roughly on the ground with a thud.

Racing toward where Kid Flash had landed Kagome checked his neck pulse, sighing with relief as she found him still alive.

No doubt the other two were just unconscious as well. After checking all of their vitals, she was relieved to see that she was correct.

She was ready to plan an escape when vents above her head began to leak red fumes into the room. The scent was strong and foul, making her head spin with the different odors penetrating her nostrils.

She clasped her hands over her nose and tried not to suck in any more of the toxins, but it was too late. Her body already started shutting down.

Her throat felt like it was on fire, and she knew soon that her vision would leave her.

The large metal doors were wretched open by large grotesque aliens.

As they surrounded her and the young hero's, her head hit the ground. About to be overcome with darkness, she caught the sent of a human who smelled of medicines and nauseous chemical liquids.

With her last bit of energy, she lifted her head and saw a man with long brown hair, glasses and a white lab coat. She growled at him as he approached her.

"Take them all to the cloning room."

^^^^Chapter 2 End^^^^^

**Hope you readers enjoyed it! Thank you so much for reading!**

**Until next time!**


	3. A Powerful Nose Is A Curse

**I do not own Inuyasha or Young Justice. This is purely for entertainment.**

**Chapter 3 A Powerful Nose is a Curse**

Night had taken complete control over the city, as the twinkling cosmic balls of fire in space battled for attention against the many different fireworks shot off in the sky. There were the sounds of car engines rushing back and forth in a constant symphony.

People busied around the town stores for any last-minute shopping before heading towards the public park to watch to fireworks. Others were on their way home, eager to see family members, drink with friends and be merry that night.

It was Independence Day, after all, and kids were out of the house and in the streets, playing with fire and shooting off large colorful explosives.

It was a day to rejoice in memory of their freedoms. All people's on the surface were content, pleased with the way their lives were. Little did they know, underground there were plots being thought out that threatened the safety and longevity of the publics carefree way of life.

At Cadmus Laboratories, or rather 160 feet below Cadmus's surface floor, there was unease and a bit of anxiety that coated every white-coat staff member in the facility. There were whispers here and there, wondering about how Cadmus's Board of Directors would take the news of the break-in.

All personnel were on edge, wondering what was going to happen next, and what they were going to have to imminently do to their intruders.

There was the clipping of well-soled shoes sounding continuously from the hallway, although everyone at Cadmus knew what that meant. It signaled to every scientist, chemist, and analyst on Cadmus's lowest sub-level to steer clear of their supervisor, Dr. Mark Desmond.

Down the white-walled hallway, there was a middle-aged man with shoulder-length brown hair. He was wearing a bleached doctor's coat and thin-rimmed glasses. His face was grim, his eyes trained to the floor in front of him, turning around now and then to walk the other way. His right hand covered his mouth as his brain ran at a hundred miles a minute.

Dr. Desmond, head scientist at Cadmus Laboratories, was pacing back and forth across the hallway, wringing his hands in his laboratory coat, twisting it in anxiety.

In a few minutes, he was to have an audience with his employers whose identities, he was ashamed to say, he was not permitted know. He generally didn't like to be kept in the dark, but then again it wasn't as if the funding for Cadmus's experiment's came out of thin air. Their genetic tampering reasearch specifically was expensive and, as it is seen as a rather large taboo by most people, there were few people who wanted to fund his experiments.

That was the reason why Cadmus's true purpose was never exposed to the public, and why their experiments were kept hidden deep within the earth. And, most importantly, it was kept secret from the Justice League.

Dr. Desmond's hands clenched with anger.

Those self-righteous "hero's" would never understand his work. They could not see how powerful DNA really was, and how in the right hands, more specifically in his hands, it could produce a very powerful weapon. It was because of this, he mused, that if Cadmus were to be discovered, would certainly be targeted and his research halted.

This risk had a high chance of happening, so his employers thought it wise to secure Cadmus with all up-to-date security machinery and put the genomorph's to work as security overseers.

However, his facility had been revealed. It would seem that the fire from the top levels had attracted some unwanted attention, and now he was in the possession of three super-hero side-kicks and one new, interesting specimen. Deciding to sit down on a wall bench, his brain began to contemplate the day's events.

Cadmus even had the famous "Guardian" as their Chief of Security, and yet after all this time, after all this effort to work under the Justice League's radar, his facility had been hacked and broken into by teenage misfits. But, at least this incident didn't leave him with a completely hollow feeling, as he remembered the gem he had snared back in the Cloning room.

She was unlike anything he had ever seen before.

After having a G-Troll move her and the three other boys from the Project Kr Pod Room, he was surprised to find her already stirring to wake up, impressively fighting off the highly influential fumes they had doused in the Project Kr Room. From the amount of toxins she had inhaled, the masked woman should have been knocked out for days. Her body's immune system must be incredibly resistant, which was odd when he took in her relatively small size.

With her becoming more aware by the second, they had to move quickly. Rushing towards the Cloning Room, his assistants had placed her into one of the four cloning pods, closing the glass door, he released another dose of knockout gas into the pod. Her facial movements had scrunched up her mask, as the fumes worked on her system.

As the pod filled up with green smoke the girl's head bobbed for a moment before becoming limp. The girl had knocked out like a light, once again rendering her harmless, but her presence still worried the scientist.

While the girl was unconscious, he had two assistants open her pod once more, laying her body down on an examination table he had wheeled in. He instructed them to help analyze her physique, which in the end, had given them a few surprising results. While in the process of taking off her gloves, his female scientist actually yelped in surprise after she had peeled off the white mask from her face.

The girl was a rare asian beauty, he would give her that. Her heart-shaped face was framed by her silver hair, which had come undone a bit from the back of her head, spilling down to her shoulders, giving her the spitting image of an angel.

Her skin was pale as a polished pearl, except for two rather curious purple markings on her cheeks. He could remember the markings being something akin to tattoos, as he continued his inspection.

While trying to find what had made his intern react in such a way, his intrinsic gaze landed on her mouth. His eyes widened. Taking hold of a metal probe, he gently, lest he wake the girl from her drug-induced slumber, lifted up her upper lip to show a set of sharp, white canines.

His mind became even more puzzled, but it didn't detour him from instructing his team to continue with their search.

Lifting the hood off her head as well, he was shocked to find two fluffy animal-like ears sitting atop her head. He heard others around them gasp, staring at the evolutionary phenomenon. He could not deny that this woman had won his scientific heart, so to speak. Snapping his fingers near each silver appendages, he observed how they twitched in response, watching the ear swivel towards the sound before returning back to a standard position.

Interesting. She is unlike any alien or super-human that we have seen thus far on Earth.

Deciding to move on, he opened the cloak that was wrapped around her. She wore a simple white colored robe, held together in the middle with a separate piece of cloth. She wore no jewelery except for a necklace, which had an orb-like stone situated on her collarbone. A sword was at her hip, snug in-between the cloth that wrapped around her mid-section.

A whistle from his male intern irked him. Ordering the half-wit to stay on task, he proceeded to reach for the sword at her hip. It would only get in the way during the...

He couldn't finish his train of thought, as something akin to a bolt of lightning shot out from the sword. The shock coursed through his body, sending him across the room, slamming his back into the dirt wall. There were shouts of concern from his assistants, asking if he was alright. The woman came to his side, trying to help him up, before he shoved away from her.

Pushing his body up, using the wall for support, he stared as the girl seemed to glow along with the sword.

A bright purplish aurora encased her, slowly settling down to become apart of the unconscious body. Once the light was nearly gone, he and his assistants carefully made their way back to the side of the examination table. It seemed that this girl was full of mysteries. He could tell just by analyzing her that she was dangerous, even more so than a few League members by his estimation.

After the 'shocking' ordeal, he ordered two G-Gnome's to place the girl back in the cloning pod. After they had tentatively snapped in the restraints, being mindful not to touch the sword at her side, they closed the glass door. Dr. Desmond administered another dose of green gas into the pod before walking out.

Now here he was, outside his office, waiting for a reply from the Board of Directors while his mind played every possible scenario of his possible demise.

It was nerve-wracking. There was no way he was not going to get punished for allowing three Justice League side-kicks and another rather unusual intruder practically waltz their way into Cadmus's most highly secured facility.

To make matters worse, their guests had managed to infiltrate "Project Kr" and, no doubt thanks to the boy-wonder hacker, there was no doubt in his mind that the three side-kicks had learned all there was about what Cadmus was working on. It was all a big mess.

The large metal doors opened. He stepped into the middle of the large circular room as several large screens came down from the ceiling, surrounding him on all sides. The screens clicked on and showed static-white silhouettes on the monitor.

A low-echoing voice spoke through, "Dr. Desmond, you requested an audience with The Light." It was rough, sort of reminding him of sandpaper scraping across a smooth surface.

He had to clear his voice first, before addressing the monitors. "Yes, I'm very sorry to disturb you at this late hour..." his voice was shaking a bit.

There was an exasperated sigh from one of the screens, "Just get to the point." the voice was smooth, but held a tone of authority as well as a bit of tiredness.

"Of course, ahem." having to clear his throat once more, Dr. Desmond began, "Well, we had a small fire here at Cadmus, the origin of the incident is still unclear, but it seemed to have attracted some...unwanted attention. Three side-kicks, Robin, Aqua Lad and Kid Flash, along with an unknown humanoid girl, had breached security."

Taking a moment to pause, waiting for any questions that his employers had for him.

Greeted only with silence, he continued, "These four found and released the Weapon, the Superboy. Of course, the clone is under our telepathic control and, as ordered, turned against his would-be-liberators. Although, it would seem that although the Weapon was able to successfully subdue the three sidekicks, the clone was unable to do the same with the unknown girl. She mysteriously overpowered the Weapon, but we were able to knock her out with a relaxant gas."

There was a pause in the discussion. "We now have them all contained and unconscious, and we believe that The League doesn't know they're here. Umm...what should I do with them?"

The Light was silent, pondering on what was to be fated for their Head of Science at Cadmus and for their unwanted guests. It made Dr. Desmond sweat a bit, before a low metronome voice spoke out through the speakers above him.

"Clone them. All of them. They will all make fine additions to fight for The Light, especially this girl you speak of. If she is able to defeat Cadmus's most powerful weapon, she will surely be useful to us. The new copies will serve The Light, and only The Light." Dr. Desmond nodded at their decision.

"And what about the originals?"

A dark voice spoke this time, "Dispose of them, leave no trace."

* * *

He had stared at Cadmus's intruders for a while, actually it had been hours, and he had yet to move from standing in front of them. After Dr. Desmond and the other scientists had left the room, he snuck past them to take another look. They were all asleep.

Or, maybe more of a forced unconsciousness. From what he remembered, he was the reason they were currently hanging by their arms, suspended a couple of feet off the ground. Trouble was, he wasn't really sure why he had attacked them. He remembered after he had awoke, the blind rage he felt for them. Rage that was unwarranted, unprovoked, and yet he still reacted on it.

Staring at them, he took a while to memorize what they looked like.

The smallest male had black hair, wore a mask and cape, and had a utility-belt around his hips. The clone shook his head, thinking how dumb the scientists were for not thinking to take it away. This boy was obviously Robin, side-kick to the Dark Knight of Gotham, the Batman.

The most colorfully dressed male was an interesting sight to behold. He seemed to be perfectly comfortable to run around in a bright, shining yellow full-body leotard. Granted, there were pieces of red material too, but still...the colors. They would not be the first he would choose. The thought almost made him laugh. He also had on a pair of red goggles. This was Kid Flash, the speedster trained by The Flash, his internal information provided.

The last male, certainly the oldest, was an Atlantean, or at least that's what he gathered from the webbed hands and gills. His markings, his mind provided, was a sign that he was skilled in the art of magic, but had not finished his sorcery training. This was Aqua Lad, apprentice and loyal subject to the Atlantean King, Aqua Man.

Bringing his hands up to rub his temples, he tried to stop the inflow of information. This was another thing that was strange, knowing about things, people and customs without actually seeing them or learning about them. It almost made him feel like he was missing out on the experience.

The boy-clone sighed, once again looking up at the ones he helped capture.

He attacked them and he could not for the life of him come up with a good reason for doing so. His head bent a bit, no longer looking at the prisoners, but down at the ground. He should leave before they woke. It would be for the best, since he was sure they would not take kindly to waking up to him.

He should leave now. He tried to move.

He wasn't even supposed to be here, he thought, trying to reason with himself. Originally, he had been ordered to return to his pod to continue absorbing Red Sun energy and open his mind to the G-gnomes to feed him information.

It was all routine, he supposed. Ever since he woke up in Cadmus, inside a light-filled pod, he was ordered to do this or ordered to break that, but almost always he was shut inside that pod.

He hated it. Being shut off from everything. He hated it more than he could put into words, but...

This was all that he had ever known. Cadmus. It's white walls, its strange people, the low humming voices he heard from the outside of his containment pod, these were so normal occurences, so continuous around him that he believed this to be the extent of his purpose. He considered Cadmus, since it was the place where he was born, to be his home, even though he was only alive to be used.

He had learned early on, through the Gnomorph's telepathic 'schooling' that he was to be a weapon. A weapon for Cadmus, for the Earth, and for The Light.

He could not be anything else, or anything more than that. There was nothing more for him to be others than to be The Light's own personal one-man army. To be the next Superman after he was gone. To be the one to destroy him if he should ever turn against The Light.

That was his purpose. He had known this since he was born, or rather, force grown from the original Superman's DNA by Cadmus.

There was a groaning sound from one of the pods above, the one containing the now unmasked girl from before. His crystal blue eyes narrowed. She was the one, the only one out of all of them, that had defeated him. Stepping closer to the pods glass surface, he inspected the strange looking female.

She was bound with her hands above her head, similar to the way the other four boys were positioned. Her head bobbed a bit, indicating that she was trying to regain a state of conciousness. The skin around her resting eyes crinkling a bit from the effort.

A few minutes passed, and he found that he was unable to look away from her. He wasn't mesmerized, by any means, it was just that...

Her sleeping face was surprisingly...nice to look at. Why she kept it hidden behind a mask was a mystery to him. Of course, maybe it was just his own curiosity. She was in all honesty, the very first female he had ever seen with his own two eyes, not like the images the Genomorphs cut and pasted inside his mind, but a real, live girl.

Although she looked different from what the psychic-aliens had given him during his containment, which confused him.

Her face, although having a smooth look to it, had two large purple stripes across her cheeks. Her eye color, he knew from the fight he had with her earlier, resembled the shine of an amber.

Registering a small twitch of movement, his attention quickly focused on the two appendages at the top of the girls silver mane. Two fluffy-looking ears twitched and swiveled from side to side.

It was amusing to watch her ears rotate all around her, until they finally focused on a position facing him. It was strange, but seeing that her heartbeat hadn't rose to a faster pace, he assumed it was just an unconcsious reaction to sound.

Little did the clone know that the demon-girl was already fully aware and taking in all sounds in the room. She was also sporting the mother of all headaches.

* * *

There was a voice, low and calm at first, sounding in their heads. It was strange sensation to have, with your mind being open to anyone other than the person himself. It felt like a tingle of sorts, similar to when you would have you feet tickled or when your foot fell asleep on you. But also, like always, that tingle will begin to hurt. As the voice grew louder, more stern, it felt just like that.

_"Wake, you must awake. You must wake up now!"_

Three pairs of eyes shot wide open, shocked awake by whatever was inside their minds. A bit disoriented at first, the three side-kicks took in their surroundings. A different room, they were restrained with metal bindings, and were held captured in the hands of Cadmus.

And ceremoniously, in front of them stood the Superboy they had liberated.

Kid Flash for one, was less than happy seeing the one, who they tried to help, stand silently in front of him like a prison guard. It angered him, that he would turn on his friends when they only wanted to help. You would think that the guy would have more of a heart than that, after being encased in that pod for who knows how long.

And, as usual, his mouth couldn't help but say just that. "What are you looking at, huh? Quit staring at me, you're freaking me out!" Seriously, this guy was just going to stare at them until one of them blinks?

Robin was more calm about the situation than his friend. Although he was a bit irritated that they had gotten caught in the first place, he was not ready to lose a team-mate to a laser-beam just because of his fast-running mouth. "Hey K.F., how about we not tick off the guy who can fry us with a look?"

His suggestion seemed to have enlightened the speedster on their situation, as he didn't receive any reply.

Aqua Lad, noticing that his friends were at a loss for words, continued the conversation. If they were able to reach out to Superboy, somehow help him realize that there is a world outside of Cadmus, they could have a chance to escape from here.

He would have to tread lightly though, if this clone had a temper and he were to say something that angered him too much, they would lose their chance to free him from Cadmus's brainwashing.

Hoping to shed some light on their reason for being here, the Atlantean stated calmly, "Our finding you was unexpected, but we ment you no harm. We only sought to help you..."

"Yeah, we free you, and you turn on us. How's that for gratitude..." Kid Flash vented.

"Kid, please, be quite now." Aqua Lad's tone was soft, polite yet strangely full of command, and with good reason. He did not want their potential ally to be swayed away from helping them because he might feel like they were attacking him. "I believe our friend was not in full control of his actions."

Superboy was slightly glad that one of them was defending him. After they had woken up, he didn't know what to do. Should he leave, should he stay, how would they react? When they finally noticed him, he pulled his face into an angry scowl, one that he had practiced from time to time with the scientists.

Maybe he could explain himself now, he thought. Not noticing that Robin had begun work on freeing himself from his restraints, Superboy tried to put his thoughts into words. "What if..." a sigh escaped him. This would be a bit harder than he originally thought. "What if I wasn't?"

If they could see that he wasn't in control at the time, then maybe, just maybe he could...

"He can talk?" The outburst came from the colorful side-kick again.

Superboy's hand curled in, trying to keep his actions in check, he answered roughly, "Yes, HE CAN." There was hostility in his voice, which he obviously could not control, but it had made Kid Flash's friends give him a reprimanding look. At least the speedster had the sense to act a bit awkwardly, after awkwardly stating that it was just a slip of the tongue.

Thinking that his friend had said enough, Aqua Lad tried to smooth down the clone's ruffled feathers. "He ment no harm, he was only curious. Apologies if it offends you, but did the Genomorphs teach you this, telepathicly?"

Superboy nodded, "They taught me much. I can read, write...I know the names of things." Jeez, even to him his voice sounded strange. It was almost like he was trying to apologise for something.

"But have you ever seen them?" the boy-wonder asked, causing the clone to turn towards him, "Have they ever let you see the sky, or the sun?"

"Images are implanted in my mind. Information about things, people, superheros and all of you, were all transferred into my mind by Cadmus's genomorphs. They have implanted my memory with all current knowledge about the Justice League and their side-kicks; everyone except her."

All three side-kicks eyes followed the clone as he walked over to stand in front of the fourth pod. What it contained had stunned all of them for a moment, silent awe showered over them.

A young woman dressed in white was positioned in the same fashion as they were. Her eyes were closed, her breathing even, as she hung limply in the pod next to Aqua Lad.

"Whoa, who is that?" Kid Flash, being ever so smooth, had begun thinking up pick-up lines to ask the beautiful female when she woke. Although Aqua Lad sort of cut off his view of her, he saw enough to know that she was easily the prettiest girl he had ever seen.

Robin, being the furthest away, was having trouble even getting a glance at her. All he could make out was that she was about his height, and was bare-foot. Straining his neck, he tried to get a better look. Damn his small size, he could barely see over kid-mouth's head.

Aqua Lad, however, had a clear view of their extra guest and what he saw made his mouth go a bit dry.

The being next to him was tiny, dressed in white and though she was fully covered, had enough curves to be seen automatically by any person. His attention diverted from her face by a slight movement on top of her head.

Slowly lifting his eyes, he was shocked to see a pair of dog-ears sitting on top of her head. They perked up as Superboy made his way to stand in front of her pod, in fact, they almost seemed to be following his every movement. It was hard to tear his gaze from her and focus on the conversation they were having before getting distracted.

Superboy, oddly enough, was also finding it hard to remember what they were taking about. He had just turned to glance at her, make her known to the others who didn't notice she was there.

"She was with you when you released me, and was also the last 'person' I faced before you all were taken here." Turning his piercing blue orbs at the Atlantean, he questioned, "What is she?"

Aqua Lad, who was staring at Kagome's striped pale face, snapped his eyes to Superboy. "I'm afraid we do not know anything about her. If I am not mistaken, this is the person we met here inside Cadmus when we were on the upper levels. She wore a mask and hood before, so it was difficult to identify her."

The white part of Robin's mask widened a bit. "Wait a minute, that masked guy we met upstairs was this girl? Whoa, now I'm really whelmed." he turned towards Superboy once more, "Anyway, what happened between you and her after you knocked us all out? Did you beat her too?"

"No, I was not able to defeat her."

Silence reigned for several moments. There was nothing anyone could say-

"WHAT? THIS MEGA HOT BABE TOOK YOU OUT?", the speedster could hardly keep any of his surprise held in. It was such a blow to his mind that the replica of Superman was taken down by this cute, lovely, smoking hot babe! "But wait, I thought you were supposed to be the clone of the Big Man."

Superboy straightened his back, stating in a prerecorded voice, "I am the Superboy, a genomorph, cloned from the DNA of the Superman. Even though I am not the original Superman, I was made to take his place should he perish. To destroy him should he turn from The Light."

This short introduction from Superboy worried all of them.

If this boy, Superboy, who was made with the DNA of Superman, was being brainwashed to think that The League was corrupted, they would have a tough enemy to face one day during battle. The way his voice became strong and sure was also discouraging, like he had already accepted his fate as the next Superman. A Superman who fights for Cadmus.

Aqua Lad, trying to be as delicate as possible, commented, "Wanting to be like Superman is...a worthy aspiration." pausing to let the words sink in, he continued, "But, like Superman, you deserve a life of your own. A life beyond that solar-suit, beyond your pod, beyond Cadmus."

Blue eyes widened at the Atlantean's words. They were all words he had dreamed about; a life outside, outside Cadmus. Even as he thought about it, it felt something akin to blasphemy. Shaking his head, he roared, "I LIVE BECAUSE OF CADMUS. IT IS MY HOME."

"Your home is a test-tube. We can show you things outside of Cadmus. We can show you the sun." Robin was sick of hearing this guy defend Cadmus as if he actually liked being down here. He had never seen the sun, the moon, the sky, nothing. And yet he was going to stand here and defend this place just because they grew him? It seemed to the masked-boy that this clone needed a wake-up call.

"Umm...I'm pretty sure it's after midnight now..." Always there to lighten the mood, Kid said matter-of-factly, "But we can show you the moon."

"We can show you, introduce you, to Superman."

Superboy's eyes widened again at the Atlantean's words. It was a once in a lifetime chance. To meet the man, the Kryptonian who he was supposed to replace, supposed to be. He was suddenly wondering what he was made to do, certainly not to just take over Superman's role as defender of Earth. What was he supposed to do?

"No they can't." an annoying voice answered for him.

Before he could come up with a response, the metal doors behind him opened. Dr. Desmond walked in along with a female assistant and Guardian. "They will be otherwise occupied."

The scientist grinned a bit, before turning to the female. "Activate the cloning process."

As the woman timidly moved over to type ou the order into the large computer, Robin made a crack about the Batcave being crowded enough with just him, Batgirl and Batman.

"And what are you even doing here? Get the Weapon back in it's pod!" Guardian, who had no choice but to follow orders, walked slowly to Superboy's side, gently trying to lead him out of the cloning chambers, back to his pod.

"Hey, how come he gets to call Supy an 'it'?" Although Kid flash didn't really mean it the way it sounded, he still got an annoyed look from the solar-suited clone.

Aqua Lad ignored his friend's obvious blunder. He faced toward Superboy asking, begging him to help them.

Superboy shrugged off Guardian's hold. He didn't feel like going back, ever going back to that pod.

Dr. Desmond sighed, "Don't start thinking now."

Coming up along side the Weapon, he let the Gnomorph hop to his shoulder. Superboy's eyes dilated before staring straight ahead into nothing. "See, You're not a real boy, you're a weapon and you belong to me. Well, to Cadmus, same thing. Now Get Back To Your Pod."

The three side-kicks felt as if their last hope of escape had gone with Superboy walking out of the room. As the metal doors shut behind him, Dr. Desmond turned to give a nod to the female assistant. Acknowledging the order, the female began the cloning process, pressing the right buttons on the large keyboard.

After a moment, two large robot arms extended over the three side-kicks and Kagome. They came down swiftly to puncture through their clothing, into their chest, and had begun to extract blood from their bodies.

Grunting at the pain, Aqua Lad endured just as much suffering as his friends. Robin began to shout out at the pain, the needles hitting his ribs and sternum. Kid Flash however, was not about to give these scientists the satisfaction of hearing him cry out in pain, and instead gritted his teeth together tightly.

Knowing that this would probably be his last attempt, Aqua Lad murmured low a message for Superboy, knowing that his superior hearing would catch every word.

"Superboy, you live. That gives you the right to follow your own path. A weapon or a person? The choice is yours, but ask yourself...What would Superman do?"

He could only hope that he heard his words. He might not be the original Superman, but if he truly wanted to become like him, to fight for what he thought was right, then he might be able to break through the genomorph's mind-control, and decided to help them. Suddenly, he heard the woman gasp out, alarmed.

What is happening?

Looking over at his side, he saw that the needles that were supposed to have punctured the girl...were broken. The ends where they were supposed to have attached to her body splintered off into shards of metal, its jagged edges dangling above her.

She herself was still unconscious, or at least he thought she was, and the robot arm malfunctioned, spinning around wildly before shutting down, falling dead at her side.

Dr. Desmond was furious, "What was that? How did they..." He was cut off from the wrenching sound of metal doors behind him being ripped off its hinges.

In it's new entrance stood Superboy, fully in control of his mind and rid of the small genomorph from his shoulder. The electricity to the robotic arms penetrating them were shut off, most likely because the wiring for them was built into the wall next to the door.

Aqua Lad was relieved. His words had reached him in time. And if the angry scowl was anything to go off of, he was about to get even with everyone who tried to imprison him in this underground facility. At the same moment he began to walk in, Guardian, Dr. Desmond and the female scientist ran to try and subdue him. Which was as useless as it was stupid.

"I told you to get back to your...!" The bad doctor couldn't even finish what he wanted to say, as Superboy effortlessly shoved all three of them out of his way and into the walls.

Glaring down at the head scientist, the super-clone growled, "Don't give me orders." Robin had taken this time to set his own body free, after his restraints were off of him, the glass door in front of him conveniently opened, allowing him to jump out next to Superboy.

"Ahh…finally! Lucky Batman isn't here. He would have my head for taking so long."

Kid Flash had his mouth open in disbelief, "Seriously? _That's_ what you're worried about?" he asked sarcastically, "The whole league will have our heads after tonight!"

Not paying him any attention, Robin quickly made his way over to the main computer keyboard, pressing a button on its surface, it opened the pod casings of the remaining three retraintee's.

Turning toward Superboy, he said, "You help Aqua Lad and I'll get Kid-mouth." He wasn't given a response other than to never give him an order again, which would have ticked him off if they weren't about to run for their lives.

Superboy leapt up to Aqua Lads taking the metal restraint's in his hand he crushed the braces, catching the Atlantean as he suddenly lost his footing.

Looking down at the boy's limp body, he saw a small smile spread across his face. "Thank you." Not sure how to react, Superboy could only nod as he expressed his gratitude.

A small groan to their left made their heads turn to the pod next to Aqua Lad's.

The dog-eared girl was awake, stumbling around, but free of her metal braces. The silver-haired girl held the bridge of her nose tightly, rubbing it in an almost urgent manner. Her silver dog-ears were flattened to her skull, as she muttered out curses, her necklace dangling from her neck.

"Damn whoever kept making me inhale that green-fumed shit. I'll kill that sonofabitch, I swear I will..."

Getting over his own soreness, Aqua Lad landed softly out of his pod and walked over to the girl. He saw her sway a bit, unsure if she was fully capable of running out of here with them by herself he extended his hand. "Are you alright? If you are unable to run...", his offer to help was shot down when he felt his hand being slapped away.

Her eyes glinted murderously, "I am fine, not injured or anything, so I can...urrgghh." Her nose flared up again, sending a shot of pain up to her forehead and down her throat.

What the hell, she shouldn't be this crippled by a couple poisonous vapors. Then again, her nose had always been extremely sensitive, almost as sensitive as her Lord's nose. Then again, she did not have the same level of tolerance has her Lord, so this was what usually happened.

Oh...Her head began to spin.

As her world became a bit blurry, she felt a hand on her arm, steadying her from tipping over to her right. She lifted her golden eyes to see silver-white. " If you would allow me to carry you..." she growled in displeasure until he hastily finished, "...just until you can run yourself. We won't leave you here."

Watching as determination flamed in his eyes, Kagome snorted through her nose. He really wasn't going to leave her here, she thought, almost annoyed with the fact. The situation was almost too embarrassing for her to swallow.

She could handle herself. And she was more than capable of getting out of here without help, but as another wave of nausea hit her, she realized that her body was still healing against the toxins.

Grumbling, she gave the dark-skinned boy a curt nod. "That is acceptable."

Aqua Lad smiled a bit at her language, before tuning around and crouching down in front of her. Kagome knew what it meant, and even though it brought back painful memories, she climbed onto his back. "Only for a little while. I won't need much time to heal."

She leaned on him a bit, making sure her sword wouldn't drive into his back, before wrapping her arms on his shoulders. Subtly taking in his scent, her eyebrow rose a bit. He smelt like the ocean, salty ocean water, mixed with an obvious scent of magic.

"I understand." Getting up, with the silver-haired girl on his back, he waited a second for Robin to release Kid. After that was done, they all bolted to the door, hearing Dr. Desmond shout that they would never make it out of Cadmus.

"That guy is not whelmed, not whelmed at all." Robin joked, as he threw a few of his explosives at the DNA pods. They detonated on contact, completely destroying the Cloning room along with their DNA.

They had run for a while down a large hallway, searching for the elevator, when they were startled by a large roar from behind them.

Kagome, who clung to the Atlantean's back, swerved her ears around to listen behind her. "That scientist guy just ordered the activation of every Gnomorph.", she informed the group.

The air around her had cleared considerably, lifting the fog from her head and giving her fresh air to breathe.

As they passed through the odd-looking hallway, tons of red blotches on the walls began to light up. Robin looked up to see the white-haired girl swerve her ears all around them. "I hear loud footsteps from the back of us, and there is a scratching sound coming from inside the walls."

The group skidded to a stop to find that their path blocked by a horde of large elf-like gnomorphs. From the back they were being surrounded by larger Troll-like versions of the genomorphs.

Kagome scoffed a bit. Well, it was their own fault they got surrounded. She had even been generous in telling them that danger was coming, but they didn't listen.

Glancing at their opponents she mused that the only plus side of them was that they didn't look that much different from large demon's. Her head was only a little fuzzy now, so she tried to slide off the boy's back.

When he protested, she told him, "I am fine now. You can let me down."

After he saw that her eyes were clear, no longer fogged from the drugs, did he let her side down to the ground, his face coloring a bit as her chest skimmed his back.

Not noticing the boy's change of scent, Kagome rolled her shoulders, feeling them crack a bit. "Alright, let's get out of this place." Taking in a deep breath of air, she traced the flow of the air current. Pointing past the wall of G-Trolls, she said, "Straight ahead is where we can get out."

Robin narrowed his eyes in suspicion, "And how would you know that?"

Rolling her eyes at the short boy, she lifted a clawed finger to her nose, tapping it. "The nose, knows." A loud roar was all they were given before the large mass of genomorphs charged at them.

Kagome turned around to face one of the rather large genomorph's, as its fist came down to crush her, she leapt up and over its head. Landing on its back, she paused to taunt another G-Troll, who was just stupid enough to try to punch her. Quickly averting its blow, she landed on the ground as the two large aliens tumbled over one another, getting tangled in each other's limbs.

The other's who had also evaded the G-Trolls, looked back in surprise as Superboy was still pounding his fists into a G-Troll. The impact was sending rocks from the ceiling down on them.

"Superboy, the goal is escape, not to bury ourselves here!"

"YOU WANT ESCAPE?" His words were full of anger, as he went to grab a G-Troll, lifting it up and sending it barreling into the others behind it.

As Aqua Lad was the first to get to the elevator, his tatoo's lit up, as he ripped open the metal doors. Robin and Flash were the first two through, and had already started their climb upwards as Superboy was still holding a stand-off with one angry-looking G-Troll.

Growling to herself, Kagome ran back to him, grabbing the clone by his collar, she threw him not so gently towards the elevator. "Get moving, you're holding us up."

Superboy sent her an angry glare before turning in to jump through the elevator shaft. grabbing Aqua Lad, he leapt up. The air whooshed past his ears, but as he was going, he noticed something was wrong. He wasn't at a constant speed...he was slowing down...he...

"I...I'm falling." Both of them were now plummeting down the dark hole, as Robin, sensing the danger, withdrew and deployed a metal boomerang. As it stuck into the wall, Aqua Lad reached out to grab it. Hanging from the side, he looked down to see Superboy, confused as to what had just happened.

"Superman can fly...why can't _I_ fly?" The question was left unanswered by almost everyone, when Kid Flash stated his opinion clearly.

"Don't know, but it looks like you can still leap tall buildings in a single bound!" his face split open in a grin, "Still cool."

Kagome, having used her claws to scale the metal wall, stayed quiet. If he were one of her men she would have given him some advice, a way to accept that it was all he could do until he tried harder. But no, he was not one of her men, not her responsibility.

Her ears perked up at the sound of scraping metal, lifting her head, her eyes pierced through the dark to see the elevator box descending on them. Letting out a curse that caught everyone's attention, she smashed through the level's elevator doors. "Get out of there!"

Detecting the urgency in her voice, they obeyed, all jumping out before the elevator box sped past.

They didn't have time to thank her though, when a group of genomorphs were running toward them, bearing their claws and teeth. No words were exchanged as they began to run again, through hallway after hallway, they could only hope that where they were going was the right way.

"Go left!" Superboy ordered. They were surprised, but followed his directions until they got to a deadend.

Kid Flash turned to the clone, stating heatedly, "Nice directions Supy, are you trying to get us re-poded?" The clone was just as confused, almost apologising before Robin stopped him.

"Don't apologise, this is perfect!" Following the short side-kicks line of sight, it landed on an air-vent.

A few moments later, they were all squished inside crawling their way through, being led by Robin. After 10 minutes of crawling through the vent, they all finally made it to the other side.

Robin redirected the genomorphs following them by hacking into the motion sensors. He smiled smugly before voicing his accomplishment, "I hacked the motion sensors." Kid Flash gave his friend a thumbs-up in a sort of kiddy fashion.

Robin groaned, looking at the Cadmus blue-print layout. "We've got a lot of space between us and out."

"But I've finally got room to move," elucidated Kid Flash, pulling down his goggles from his forehead. He pushed through a door that lead to a plights of stairs and sped up, knocking through groups of genomorphs who had waited for them. The group of teens followed after him, sometimes taking two steps at a time.

"More behind us!" warned Robin. As Kagome was the last in line, she passed Superboy as he stopped at the edge of a plight, plunging his foot down to crack the staircase apart, stopping the genomorphs from following.

They ran out of the staircase and came upon a large door about to be shut. Kid Flash had collided straight into it and was lying on the ground. Kagome helped him to his feet as Robin directed them through a small door on the side.

Glancing back, she could see that a mass of genomorphs had appeared. Damn, they were persistent. Having no other choice, she ran inside with them, bolting the door behind her.

In front of them now was Guardian, an army of genomorph's and the thin long-horned leader who had attacked them before they found Superboy. Cursing her nose for being too sensitive to notice them, she reacted to the slight glowing of the tall genomorphs horns. Lifting a barrier to shield her mind, she only had enough time to cover herself.

The others were not so lucky, as the all went unconscious from their physic abilities.

Readying herself for the fight, she was surprised to see that they were not attacking her, but were merely watching her. Looking into the long-horned aliens eyes, she saw they were fixed on Superboy.

She watched as his facial expressions changed, as if they were conversing without words. They must be talking to each other telepathically.

The clone suddenly voiced, "I. Choose. Freedom."

Another glow from the tall Genomoph's horns had Guardian clutch his head, while uttering incoherent words. He seemed to be waking from a deep dream, for his eyes seemed less fogged and had gained a sharp glint. As if he had turned into a different person, he ordered, "You five go on ahead. I'll deal with Cadmus."

"I'm afraid not!" Dr. Desmond had come out of hiding once again, only this time he held a glass test tube in his hand. A pure light blue liquid shimmered with brilliance that was held in front of him as he preached, "Project Blockbuster has the power to restore order to Cadmus."

He was talking like a mad man. As he tilted his head and ingested the potent liquid, his body reacted immediately, becoming grotesque and bulky. His muscles seemed to stretch disproportionately as he grew in stature.

His body changed from a human's to a stony blue, cracks had carved their way into his face and his eyes shone a deep red. He had been transformed into a monster.

Trying to find any weak spot or flaw in the demon's design, Kagome was about to issue a warning for the others…too late, Superboy had raced head first into battle. He was able to land a jab in the jaw, but in doing so, left an opening for the demon to catapult both of them through the ceiling, into the level above.

Kagome felt like banging her head against the nearest wall, if her pride would not have been bruised beyond repair. "Well, that's one way in getting out." Robin remarked, getting out his grappling gun.

"Do you think lab-coat planned that?" Kid Flash openly questioned, catching a ride with Robin.

"I don't think that monster's planning anything anymore." Aqua lad replied dryly. He was startled when Kagome came up to his side, wrapping her arm around his waist, she leapt them through the hole after Robin and Kid Flash.

They were on the top floor, the lobby room for Cadmus, where Superboy was being smashed into the floor by the Blockbuster monster, its bulky hands crushing his throat, making it hard for him to breathe.

The Blockbuster, seeing the four of them come through the hole, threw Superboy into Kagome and Aqua Lad, sending them back a few meters. Kagome landed roughly on her back, while trying to stand back up, her ears flattened to her head as the block-man screeched.

It was all they needed to begin. Kid Flash sped behind him first to distract him, waiting for Aqua Lad and Superboy to sucker-punch him, before pulling the sage-old back-knee trip. Feeling rather smug, the red-haired teen smirked, "Learned that one in kindergarten."

A second later, the Blockbuster charged at Superboy, slamming him into a concrete beam, punching him repeatedly. A blue whip-like projection from Aqua Lad ceased its movements, but not for long as it threw Superboy to collide with Kid Flash.

The Blockbuster charged at Aqua Lad, its hand around the Atlantean's throat, barreling him through one beam before slamming him against another.

Kagome grasped the arm, twisting it till it released the boy and continued until she heard a satisfying snap. Lifting the monster off the ground, she turned sharply and sent it head-first into a cement wall.

Aqua Lad groaned, delirious because of the lack of oxygen, he fell to his knees. The monster regained its bearings and charged at Kagome, wildly swinging its rock arms, trying to make contact with her.

After a moment, she pivoted on her heel, dodging his fists at first. One punch came close to her face before he held her arm out in front of her, making contact the monster's attack was instantly halted. It's red eyes flared with anger, making her smirk a bit at its temper.

A call from Robin brought everyone out of their thoughts, bringing them together to think up a plan while the silver-haired girl kept the monster busy.

Kagome was going easy on her opponent, easily evading all of its attacks, maneuvering so that the team of side-kicks had enough time to successfully prepare a trap for the demon. She mentally sighed at the thought of her fun coming to an end.

Hearing them break apart, she knew the time had come. She stilled for a moment, letting the demon think he had her before she seemed to disappear. Nowhere to be seen.

"Rrrrahhh!" A powerful swing by Superboy sent the 'scientist' forward, landing on Robin's chalked 'X' on the floor, which Aqua Lad covered with water. As the Blockbuster slipped into the puddle, Aqua lad slammed his hands, palms down, onto the floor and electrified it, effectively frying the Blockbuster monster.

Kagome, who had perched herself up on the beams above, heard a beeping noise.

Looking down, she saw that a bunch of Robin's exploding hand-disks lodged in the beams, beeping slowly at first, but then became faster. Kagome cursed, only having a second to leap off the beam as the projectiles exploded. The walls surrounding them started to cave in; debris fell from every corner, leaving no route for escape.

Superboy reached for her, bringing her under him to protect her as the ceiling fell down.

* * *

Everything was quiet, dark and there was a slight heaviness that centered around her chest area. Looking up, Kagome's superior eyesight allowed her to see through the dark into the bright crystal orbs of the super-clone. His chest would have been pressed against hers if she hadn't had her arms in-between them. His white solar-suit was ripped at the collar, covering the 'S' symbol on his chest.

Everything was quiet, so Superboy tried to stand up, lifting with him two large cement blocks that were once apart of the ceiling. Looking down, he watched as the silver-haired girl stood, brushing some dust off her white cape and robe.

The Blockbuster monster underneath a pile of rubble. Robin and Kid Flash were kneeling on the ground next to Kagome, breathing hard. Aqua Lad stood next to Superboy, staring down at the monster with a shocked look on his face. "We did it." He said, a bit in disbelief.

Robin was grinning from ear to ear in satisfaction. "Was there…ever any doubt?" Kid Flash chuckled along with him. Both gave each other a high-five before remembering their injuries, holding onto their rib area.

"See?" She turned to listen to Kid Flash after he recovered, as he slugged Superboy playfully in the arm. He rounded his arm to sweep across the night sky, "The moon."

Kagome looked at the white sphere in the sky. It certainly was beautiful. It would also be the first object outside that Superboy could say that he had seen with his own eyes. Glancing out of the corner of her eye, she caught a flicker of wonder pass through his eyes.

Kagome's golden eyes softened, turning her head up to the giant floating orb. In the back of her mind, she though about her Lord, her warrior's, her home also floating out their somewhere, far away from here.

Superboy looked up and around at his surroundings_. Had these things always been just out of my reach? Have I been locked away from all of this? It's so beautiful. Incredible. _The moon, he thought, was the same, yet so different from the images planted in his mind. It was magnificent.

There was something, a figure, coming towards them from the moon. He squinted to see farther, and what he saw surprised him. It was the original, older version of him.

It was Superman.

"Oh, and Superman. Do we keep our promises or what?" joked Kid Flash, putting on a smiling face for his team.

They were soon surrounded by that adult hero's that formed the Justice League. Although she smelled no hostility from them, Kagome could not help but feel uneasy, as she pulled her hood over her head.

Superboy, eyes fixed on Superman, had taken a few steps from the group, placing himself in front view of his future self. The look on Superman's face was neutral toward him. His stare never breaking. So with slight hesitation, he lifted up the torn part of his suit, revealing the "S" logo on his chest.

The man of steel's eyes widened noticeably with shock, but he couldn't make out anything else, making him nervous. Superman, the real Superman, was right in front of him, granted he hadn't said a word yet, but…that didn't mean he couldn't hope. Hope…it was such a foreign word to him, a clone.

All he had ever really known was that he was created to replace the Superman if he went against the Light, whatever that was, or if he perished. But no matter what those scientists poured into his head, it would never be the same as actually knowing how it felt to be…him.

Maybe, if he could reach out to him, and if he accepted him, he can feel that too. He didn't have anything to lose, he reasoned with himself, but that look in Superman's eyes…it left him discouraged and, lest he admit it out loud, a bit uneasy.

Kagome watched their silent interaction, having the gut feeling that something was going to happen, and it wasn't going to be good. She could see the hope in Superboy's eyes, only to disappear completely when Superman showed no sign of acceptance.

Her eyes softened, for she knew how it felt to be unaccepted. Even though her Lord's castle was her home and many demons feared her skills and position under the Western Lord, she was rarely ever respected outside of the training fields. And even there, she remembered, she was disrespected.

But at least _she_ had her Lord. Superboy was new, fresh out of the…cloning pod, and would need a role model, as her Lord was for her. Ignoring the stares from the other teens, she stepped away from the group and placed her hand on the young clone's shoulder.

She felt sorry for him, but knew better than to try and coddle him. Although for the life of her, Kagome couldn't figure out why she was concerned with a pup, scratch that, a boy she just met. As their eyes met she let her fingers squeeze his shoulder lightly, almost reflexively, in assurance.

The look Superboy gave her would have been interpreted as hostility by most, but she could see what he was trying to hide. He was suffering, struggling to find acceptance by the one he thought would help him figure out who he was, and what made him inimitable. Not only that, but his aura and scent gave off whirling waves of betrayal and confusion.

As a last-ditch effort, she let her finger-tips glow a faint pink.

He felt his body relax under her touch. He had allowed her hand to stay on his shoulder, which was strange because he didn't like physical contact much. He would never admit it, but the action had actually comforted him. Questions swarmed his mind, all of them involving the mirror image of him standing on the debris a few feet away. His scowl deepened and hardened his face. Why was he not saying anything?

A dark cloaked man, whom she had recognized as Batman from her trip into their 'headquarters', had stepped toward Superman. "Is that what I think it is?"

"He doesn't like to be called an 'it'." Kid Flash not-so-subtly informed.

"I'm Superman's clone." Superboy stated angrily, loud enough for every one of the hero's to hear.

Batman and Superman had dislodged themselves to stand in front of their apprentices. Narrowing his eyes, Batman looked at both the hooded girl and Superboy, then turned his head toward Robin, Aqua lad and Kid Flash, seeming to flinch as his gaze landed on them. In a low, commanding tone he ordered them to explain what had happened.

Not one to take orders from someone she just met, Kagome strolled over to a pile of cement, plopping her rear roughly onto the smooth surface. Settling into a more comfortable place, she didn't take notice of all the pairs of eyes, mainly the older hero's, fixed on her every move.

* * *

It had been about twenty-five minutes before the story had been recited by Robin, explaining how they got there, her own sudden appearance and the finding of Superboy. Kagome had grown tired of sitting around doing nothing but listen to their explanations.

Superboy was standing next to her, along with Aqua lad and Kid Flash, staring at Superman's back. Feeling eyes on him, Superman glanced towards him.

Kagome snickered as the famous "Man of Steel" hung his head, before straightening and walked over to Superboy. "Errr... We'll figure out something for you, the League will, I mean. For now..." he looked down, unsure of what to say next, "I...better get that Blockbuster thing locked up." Obviously wanting to escape the awkward moment, the 'fearless' Superman took to the sky.

Behind them, Kagome's ear's picked up the sound of footsteps. Three pairs of footsteps. "Cadmus will be examined. All 52 levels, but let's make one thing clear…" directing his lecture toward the three apprentices.

He was cut off by Flash, who stood beside him. "You should have called."

"End results aside we are not happy." Batman continued, "You hacked Justice League systems, disobeyed direct orders, and endangered lives." Kagome rolled her eyes. As if that summed everything up. Don't forget liberated Superboy, revealed an underground genetics lab, and the capture of Dr. Desmond, the Blockbuster. "You will not be doing this again."

The three young hero's looked at each other, silently agreeing on what had to be done, what had to be said. "I'm sorry. But we will." Aqua lad answered for the group. Their mentor's turned rigid. It was obviously the first time that their faithful trainee's had ever verbally rebelled against them, especially towards Batman.

"Aqua lad," his mentor said sternly, "Stand down."

"Apologies my king, but no." Kagome mentally cheered for the them. It was about time that they voiced out their frustrations. The surprise that flickered across their mentor's faces was priceless and made her want to laugh.

Although the mood quickly demanded seriousness from her once again as Aqua lad expressed their ability to fulfill one of the Justice League's missions. How they had formed something powerful and important, or something along those lines.

"If this is about your treatment at the hall," Flash started, "the three of you…"

"The five of us! And it's not." Kid Flash countered.

Kagome blinked. Wait, what?

"Batman, we're ready to use what you've taught us…or why teach us at all?" Robin reasoned. Superboy, on the other end, couldn't listen to all of this pleading anymore. It was time to take action for them, for him. He would never again take orders from someone who thought to control him, or use him as a weapon.

He wouldn't have it. "Why let them tell us what to do?" his voice lined with annoyance.

With a fire in his eyes he stepped into line with Aqua Lad. "Its simple; get on board or get out of the way." With that said, the four teenage boys faced forward, ready to challenge their mentors for the right to be more. More than apprentice's. More than side-kicks…

Batman's face contorted. He wasn't sure of this at all.

He was also hesitant about letting an unknown person affiliate herself with this group. Turning his attention to the girl still sitting down on the rubble. Walking over to stand in front of her, he reached down to lift off her hood when a slender pale hand caught his in a death grip. The Dark Knight's eyes narrowed at the pure strength.

All stood still, anxious to what was going to happen between Batman and the strange girl. She didn't shrink from their stares, but instead, straightened herself so as to look taller, and fixed her expression to hold the least amount of emotion as possible.

"What about…um…what was your name?" Flash voiced.

Turning her cold stare towards the taller Flash, she sighed as she stood up, "My name is Kagome, and I'm leaving. I wish you four the best..."

She didn't get far before she was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. Batman was not about to let her walk away, because in his book, she was too dangerous to leave walking around the city. He needed to judge for himself if this girl was a threat. "Sorry, but we can't let you do that."

Kagome didn't notice Batman pulling out bottle similar to what Robin used on Superboy earlier. Before her nose could warn her, a cloud of red smoke had released from the tube, right in front of her face. Gasping a bit, her hands were at her face, covering her abused nose.

What the bloody hell! Eyes starting to water, she took a few steps. She heard the outraged voices of the side-kicks and an angry voice that belonged to Superboy.

That was all she heard before she blacked out...again, her hood falling off as she fell, her body caught by the young Atlantean.

* * *

When she came to Kagome found herself in a room, seated in a metal chair and her head resting on a metal desk. Lifting her head, she found that her hands were handcuffed. Annoyed at them, she was tempted to snap them with a flick of her wrist, but reasoned that it was not the time. Searching her person she found that her cloak was taken away, but her sword was still at her side.

Smiling a bit maniacally, she only hoped that it was the Bat that tried to touch it, imagining the man being thrown a couple of meters away by sheer youki brought a smile to her face.

Scanning the room, she saw that there was very little in it. In fact, other than her, the chair and the desk, there was nothing else. Other than that, there was a one-way mirror situated next to the only door connecting the room to the outside.

_"Batman, so we really have to do this? I mean, she helped us escape from Cadmus, even though I have my own suspicions about her, I think she would have come with us if we only asked." _Her ears perked up, picking up the conversation right outside the metal door. It was Robin taking to his mentor.

_"I didn't want to take the chance. The girl is dangerous and before she is left to wander around the city, I want to determine whether she might be to you or to the League." _Kagome sighed. She didn't want to admit it, but it was actually a valid argument. Frowning, she deduced that she probably would have done the same if an unknown being was traveling through her Lord's lands.

_"Awe, Come On! That babe isn't dangerous to us, she helped us more than once back when we were in Cadmus. That's got to count for something!" Ah, _now that was definitely her red-haired speedster. Although she wasn't all that comfortable being called 'babe', she was surprised to hear them stick up for her.

Another voice she hadn't heard before entered the conversation, its tone level, _"I too share Batman's concern. When we were at Cadmus, I tried to read her mind, but could not. It is strange that a female so young could be able to block my telepathy. It would not have been wise to let the girl go."_

_"That doesn't make it alright for you to use gas to knock her out! Good luck trying to get any answers out of her now! We'll be lucky if she trusts us at all!" _Kagome smirked at the super-clone's remark.

_"Superboy, please. Although I agree with what you're saying, I believe that Batman has his reasons for doing what he did. However, I am confused about why we brought her here specifically."_ The Atlantean pointed was a pause in the conversation.

"_I wanted to question her to find out who and what she is. If she was apart of Cadmus's genetic experiments, or if she truly was there to investigate, I want to know for what purpose. There are too many things about her that are unknown, so that was why we brought her here to Mount Justice, where Red Tornado can keep an eye on her." _Batman elaborated.

_"We will see if she can be trusted." _After that she heard the footsteps begin to grow louder, then stopped right outside the door leading into the room.

Kagome leaned back in her chair as the knob to the metal door rattled.

The door opened to show Batman and Martian ManHunter. Even though she was still pissed about her nose being assaulted twice in one night, she decided to get comfortable. Well, too bad, she thought. She would answer their questions, but she would be damned if she was going to make it easy for them.

^^^^^Chapter 3 End^^^^^

**Wow…That was a long chapter…**

**I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you everyone who "Reviewed" and "Favorited"!**

**You guys kept me writing!**

**Thank you to all who took time out of their day to read my story. I am deeply honored!**

**Happy Readings!**


	4. A Cyclone Brought Us Together

**I own nothing from Inuyasha or Young Justice. This is purely for entertainment.**

**Chapter 4: A Cyclone Brought Us Together**

A jingling metallic sound reverberated off the walls of her gray walled cell.

Kagome huffed in frustration as she gently toyed with her hand-cuffs, curling a clawed finger around the shiny silver link that "restricted" her from moving away from the table. Her golden eyes traveled around the corners of the room. There wasn't anything much to see, but it kept her entertained for a second before she turned back to the cuffs on her wrists.

It had been about two weeks, by her count, since she had her first interrogation session with the Batman and his telepathic associate. Since then, they had come to the room periodically, asking her the same line of questions that she would never answer. A good-humored smirk crossed her lips as she remembered how hot-headed the usually stoic Batman became after one of their interactions.

She recalled how his blood would rage through his body, building up in anger before he excused himself from her presence. Although, even after he left the room, she was still able to hear the light curses he sent her way out in the hallway.

She had been locked up in this blank-walled room with nothing to do. Bored with the routine these hero's of earth were subjecting her to, she sat in the metal chair waiting for the right time to make her escape.

Ever since her first introduction to the Batman and the alien called Martian ManHunter, she had weighed in her options.

The first thought that came to mind was that she could just knock them both out and make her escape then and there. She definitely had the element of surprise on her side, with the Bat only having restrained her with a pair of cuffs, she could easily free herself.

But then she decided to stay for two reasons. One was because she still had a score to settle with the human who knocked her out. So far, she was able to make every interrogation she had with the man a living hell.

The other reason came a few minutes after the Martian had entered the room. Remembering her assignment, to assess and log all the aliens here on earth that could be percieved as a threat to her Lord's lands, she decided to take advantage of the opportunity and observe the Martian's of Mars.

So far, the Martian had demonstrated telepathic abilities, which she guessed ranged from telekinesis to psychic abilities. Though she had yet to see any other powers that he might possess.

Her ears perked up at the sound of an automatic door sliding open. Footsteps, two pairs to be exact, were heading her way. Closing her eyes, she pretended to be asleep, as the sound stopped in front of the one-way mirror that looked into her cell.

_"Do you think she will cooperate this time? I don't want to enter her mind by force if it could be avoided."_ Martian ManHunter sounded conflicted, unsure if this was the right thing to do or not.

Batman however was not as conflicted, his voice as sharp and monotone as always. _"We have been interrogating her for days. If she will not give us the answers to our questions today, then it will have to be done."_

There was a loud sigh then, "_Still I am not sure that I will be able to get through to her mind. As I told you before, there are walls of light that block my path. It seems each time I find a weak spot, that her defenses are heightened and I am thrown out of concentration all together."_

_"Try once more, and if this doesn't work then I will have not choice but to move her. We cannot let her go until we are certain that she poses no threat. That's all there is to it."_

The voice belonging to Martian ManHunter unnerved her, as he then sounded almost concerned. "_Where will she be sent if she cannot be kept here? I am sure that the team will want to object such a decision. Ever since she came here, they have been persistent in asking to meet with her, to thank her for her assistance back at Cadmus."_

Now it was Batman's turn to sigh heavily, _"I'm not so sure of that yet. However, I trust that the team will understand why I might have to resort to detaining her somewhere else. Maybe not right then, but perhaps later on."_

_"I hope you are right." _there was a pause before the Martian started up again, "_And I hope that the girl will be willing to share more with us today."_

_"There's only one way to find out." _Kagome's ears twitched in annoyance. If they thought that she would be frightened that easily, then they were in for a rude awakening.

The handle to the only metal door swung open, again revealing one masked human and a green shape shifter. She opened her eyes, make-believing that she was uninterested with them, and stretched her arms out widely.

Tucking her hands behind her head, Kagome slowly opened her eyes to see Batman and green Martian both crossed the room and situated themselves in front of her. With the metal table acting as the only barrier between them, she relaxed as they both began their usual routine of bidirectional chatter.

Batman, as always, handled the interrogation as if it were second nature to him. Although Kagome could see that this wasn't his preferred tactic. It showed once or twice before that he was more accustomed to use threats to get what he wanted. But that just made Kagome's time with the human more enjoyable, seeing him try and reign in his temper whenever she dodged a question.

She had been difficult during the last few weeks for a reason though. After all, there was no way she was going to let the Bat slide past her with out some form of punishment for drugging her.

The familiar tingle against her minds barriers reminded her of the alien in the room.

Her golden eyes traveled to the Martian. At their first meeting, she was weary of him, but over time she judged his telepathic ability to be harmless towards her. After his first couple of attempts to enter her mind, she was amused to see that her barriers reacted accordingly to the intrusion and had thrown him out like a virus.

While not changing her stoic facial features, a small glint of annoyance entered her eyes. As the silence continued, she felt the small brush of mental energy circle around her head, trying to find a weak spot to where it could sneak in.

Kagome's ears flicked from side to side, her sharp nails digging slightly into the metal table, leaving small marks in its design.

This seemed to catch the Batman's attention, as he narrowed his eyes at the four slight grooves left in the table from her claws. It was curious to him that this girl, who looked no older than Aqua Lad, had so much strength.

He remembered the night she appeared with their young sidekicks along with Superboy. That night, he had wanted to see what she was trying to hide under her hood. The shear strength behind her stopping him was enough to worry him.

"Martian, I suggest that you stop trying to enter my mind without my permission. Your telepathic energy is beginning to annoy me."

Batman raised an eyebrow, surprised that she had decided to speak this time on her own. Usually during one of their meetings he would have to work for hours before she even uttered a word. Now she was conversing on her own with them, even if it was out of her annoyance.

Deciding to take advantage of the situation, Bruce addressed the strange mutated girl, "That is only because you have dragged out this safety procedure longer than it had to be. If you would only answer the questions yourself, we would not have to resort to such measures."

Kagome scoffed at the detective, tilting her head to the side in an offhanded gesture. "You called this a 'safety procedure', yet even during our first meeting here in this room, you immediately had this Martian try to enter my mind."

"My earth name is Martian ManHunter, and I apologise for..." Kagome held up her hand, stopping the Martian's apology.

Narrowing her eyes, she faced Batman, her expression hard and unforgiving. "Not to mention that I was not even given the option of coming with you here; drugging me in the most underhanded way possible."

She sighed, bringing her hand up to rub the side of her nose. "So, you can understand now why I don't necessarily care for your schedule."

Leaning forward in his chair, Batman placed both of his hands on the table's cold surface. Trying to stare her down, Kagome simply looked on, matching each glare for glare. By her standards, his intimidation tactics were hardly worth being scared over, especially since he repeatedly done so every single time the two heroes' came to question her. Frankly, she had become numb to it.

Martian ManHunter decided to intervene, before the girl ignited Batman's rage. "We understand your feelings and, believe me, this was not the route we wanted to take. If you would only..."

"Even if I were to answer your questions, I have no guarantee that you will leave me alone afterwards." Kagome held on to the Batman's gaze, sharpening her gaze a bit more, "I would be an idiot if I were to show all of my cards at once."

Batman huffed, reaching into his utility belt, he brought out a small plastic bag. Inside its transparent coverings, was a rather long silver hair strand.

"You said your name was Kagome. It is an uncommon name used in Japan, so finding your birth certificates and attached information shouldn't have been hard to do.", holding up the plastic bag, the Batman continued, "When I ran your DNA, however, I was unable to find a complete genetic match."

He placed the transparent bag on the table in front of her. When she made no move to retrieve it, he went on, "The fact that I cannot find a solid genetic match to your DNA leaves me wondering if you were subjected to genetic tampering back at Cadmus. If that is true, then we may be able to located your relatives and be able to contact them."

Kagome flinched a bit at the mention of her family. Her mother...ji-chan...Sota...

Furowing her brow, her golden eyes cut into the human across from her. "Don't bother, I have no living relatives." She growled out, turned away from them. Even though their expressions remained neutral, she could still smell the scent of shock and sympathy drifting off the two heroes. Wanting to get off of the subject, she said, "If you do not have anything else to ask me, I'm going to sleep."

Laying her head down, she pretended to yawn. Smiling, she felt the Bat's aura slowly turn from pity to almost spicy irate.

Batman, who was drained out of almost all of his patience, growled out, "_Why_ were you at Cadmus the night Robin, Aqua Lad and Flash infiltrated its facility? If you don't say anything this time, I will have to assume that you are like Superboy, another mutant genome that Cadmus had been able to create."

Kagome dragged her eyes back and forth across the room, acting as if she was bored out of her mind. "First answer me this, what day is it today? I feel like I have lost track of time, but I'm not sure."

Suddenly, the Dark Knight slammed his fist into the table, close to where her hand was currently chained. He had meant to scare her, trick her like he did when he wanted answers from many of Gotham's criminals. Though this girl...she barely even batted an eye.

Her white dog ears perked up at the sudden sound, but that was it. His gloved fingers curled in frustration when he realized that she was not going to break under his gaze.

"It's the eighteenth of July, exactly two weeks since you were brought here. Now answer the question."

The Martian sitting next to him was a bit concerned with how his colleague was acting. He could see that Batman was becoming irritated with the young girl, his hands clenching around his forearms as he waited for her to answer. Turning back to study the girl, Martian ManHunter tried to gain access to her mind once more, but was not surprised to find his way blocked again.

Kagome crossed her arms in front of her chest, shifting a bit in her chair, "Although I do have a grudge against you Bat, I will say this much in my defense. I was in no way grown from within Cadmus by those scientists, rather I was just minding my own business when I came across a television set that caught your sidekicks jumping into the facility."

Somewhere when she was explaining, Kagome had pulled out the jeweled necklace from her kimono, rubbing the pad of her thumb over its smooth surface.

"I was curious when they went inside and let me tell you, when I'm curious, I can never stop trying to find answers, kind of like Bird-boy."

Batman leaned back a bit,"Bird-boy...you mean Robin?"

Kagome nodded, and then continued, "He was the first to question me when we first met. He was a lot like you; very suspicious and demanded answers from me." She shrugged her shoulders a bit, before shifting once more in her seat.

A sharp beeping stung Kagome's ears then, making her draw them down towards her skull. She watched as Batman pressed his fingers up to his ear, obviously listening to an incoming message from another League member.

Batman stood up turning toward Martian Man Hunter, "We are being called back to the Tower." Pushing away from the table, Batman walked to the door with Martian ManHunter in tow. Smirking a bit, Kagome followed the two hero's figures out the door.

As the door shut and its locks turned, Kagome released a flow of giggles from her throat. "Well then, I've had my fill of this place." she whispered, as her claws dug into the keyhole of her cuffs. They opened with a click. Standing up she began to stretch out her limbs after sitting on her bum for more that a week.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Turning back to the table, she picked up the small plastic bag containing her hair. Crunching it up in her hand, she allowed poision to seep out of her claws, melting the bag and leaving nothing left.

After she had finished destroying the package, she adjusted her sword and left, her cape billowing around her as she phased through the wall like she did back at the Hall of Justice.

Down the hall, Batman and Martian ManHunter walked away towards the Zeta Tubes, not noticing that their detainee had checked herself out of her interrogation room.

* * *

Outside in the main entrance hall, a Zeta-beam teleporter came to life, shining brightly as a computer recording announced the arrival of the two youngest heroes.

_Recognized. Robin: P01. Kid Flash P02._

As the light dimmed a bit, the silhouettes of the two boys become solid. They were all dressed in regular day clothes instead of their superhero uniforms, indicating that they were not going on a mission that day. That fact however, didn't deviate their current excitement of the possibility that they would now be sent on a real independent mission.

Since their unwarranted mission a few weeks ago, the team of three became a group of five, including Superboy and Martian ManHunter's niece, Miss Martian. Of course, Kid Flash didn't waste any time trying to flirt with his new female team member, thinking that she was incredibly good looking.

However, it had been some time since the Justice League had contacted them with information. Batman and Martian Man Hunter had only just left Mount Justice a few hours ago, and yet they had only shared a few words with them. Needless to say, after all their time just lounging around the mountain and at their individual homes, the teenage hero's were restless.

Robin and Kid Flash quickly ran to join the others in from to the large overhead screen. The picture showed a small red dot closing in on Mount Justice, and Robin could hardly keep in his own excitement, "Did you ask him?"

"What did he say?" asked Kid Flash a moment later, also rather impatient for a reply. After their crime fighting night with their friend Speedy a few days ago, Kid Flash was ready to start taking down bad guys in the field. Truthfully, what his friend said had made him suspicious of whether or not the Justice League was even considering to let them handle missions on their own.

It was all very new to the speedster, but he didn't see why their mentor's were postponing their first mission. After the first week had gone by, Kid Flash had asked Robin to hack into the Justice League's database once more to check if there were any missions that they could go on. Robin complied, eager as he was to begin their undercover work, but had found little to no recent missions that were under investigation.

When they had heard that Red Tornado was coming down from the WatchTower to live at the Cave, as they nicknamed it, they wanted to be the ones to ask if he knew of any missions for them.

"He is arriving now." The young Atlantean turned to greet his teammates, a smile on his face as he answered them. To tell the truth, he too was anxious to begin acting like a real team.

Kid Flash broke the short silence, pumping his fist up in the air and exclaimed, "Then what are we waiting for?"

The speedster broke out into a run as he headed towards the front entrance, as Robin followed right behind him. Aqua Lad, who was more in control of his emotions and actions, decided to walk calmly after his two friends, leaving Superboy and Miss Martian to follow at their leisure.

* * *

Outside the Cave, a swirling red tornado carrying an equally red robot was making his descent on Mount Justice. As the robot was about to touch down, the underground garage door had opened to reveal the five newest team members of the Justice League's undercover team.

Kid Flash was the first person out of the Cave's underground garage, and was currently waving up at the robotic hero. A smile on his face as the wind whipped his hair around his face. "Red Tornado!"

The League's robot hero touched down in front of the group of teenagers. The android was surprised to see that they were assembled outside and was instantly alert to his surroundings, in case they were in danger. "Greetings. Is there a reason you intercept me outside the Cave?"

Aqua Lad was the one to answer, as he tried to keep his own impatience out of his voice. "We hoped you had a mission for us."

"Mission assignments are the Batman's responsibility." Red Tornado answered curtly, wondering minutely if the teenagers had listened to Batman as he explained all of this a few weeks ago.

Robin's face contorted into a scowl, "But it's been over a week and nothing..."

"You will be tested soon enough. For the time being, just enjoy each other's company." Red Tornado showed no sympathy for the team, as their expressions told him that his response was not what they were expecting. In fact, with the exception of Miss Martian who seemed to take his advice with stride, the males among the team seemed to be oddly annoyed.

Deciding to speak for his friends, Aqua Lad stated, "This team is not a social club. How we to explore what are the best way to operate this team without..."

Red Tornado's hand rose, "It is true that this team is not a social gathering, but I am told that social interaction is an important team building exercise. Perhaps you can keep busy by familiarizing yourselves with the Cave."

After glaring at Red Tornado's back, Kid Flash turned to his masked friend muttering disdainfully, "Keep busy."

It was just like what Speedy had warned them about. The Justice League apparently had no intention of giving them any real assignments any time soon, and was going to keep them stationary for as long as possible.

Aqua Lad was about to roll his eyes at their overseer's simplified explanation until he remembered that he had yet to ask about the mysterious girl they were forbidden to see. The robot was walking away from the group, so the time to ask about her was now or never.

"Red Tornado." Once he had the robot's attention, Aqua Lad continued, "I was wondering what Batman has found out about our other guest in the Cave."

Robin and Kid Flash shared a mutual expression of surprise before turning to listen to Red Tornado's reply. After what had happened back at Cadmus the four boys were left somewhat out of the loop with what was happening to the mysterious girl.

After Batman had drugged and shipped the girl with them to Mount Justice, they thought that it would be a quick process and, in a few days, thought that she would be released. Kid Flash crossed his arms in front of his chest, a rebellious appearance taking over his usually cheerful demeanor. To him, Batman's decision to drug the girl and detain her against her will was wrong. He didn't see the logic that followed the Dark Knight's reason for going to such extremes.

Robin was caught between his loyalty to Batman as his apprentice and his own gut feelings. It was strange to him that an interrogation could take so long, especially when Batman was involved. Robin sighed, he felt a bit of guilt build up in him after what his mentor did to the girl.

Superboy's expression had darkened a bit at the mention of the silver-haired girl. In his opinion, what the Justice league was doing to her was not all that different from what the scientists at Cadmus had done to him. They were keeping her against her will, chained her up in an interrogation room for weeks and have treated her like one of their common criminals.

It was more than he could stand for. But, then again, he did nothing all this time to stop it from happening.

The robot's monophonic voice droned out, "From what I have heard from Batman, the girl has expressed no sign of cooperating. Therefore, he has ordered that for everyone's safety she is not to be allowed out of the interrogation room. Until Batman thinks otherwise, the girl is going to be housed here."

The male teenagers all seemed shocked, especially a certain masked thirteen year old.

Robin couldn't understand how his mentor, the greatest detective in the League, was unable to get answers after all this time, and from that girl. The thought was puzzling, but he was forced out of his musings at what their dean-mother said next.

"Although, since the girl has no living family, it is possible that if the girl does not become complacent she is to be sent to a detainment facility. I suggest you all put her out of your minds until a decision has been established."

With that, the android turned on his heel and began to walk into the Cave, leaving the group of teenagers stunned.

The boy wonder, however, was lost in his own thoughts.

So, the girl, Kagome, didn't have any family either. A small pang of guilt shot through his system when he remembered how he treated her like a criminal. For him, since he also not having any blood relatives, he suddenly felt like he understood the girl a bit more.

Narrowing his eyes at the robot, he said whispered to Kid, "I don't think he is telling us everything. He has to know more than that."

Miss Martian perked up at the chance to be useful for the team. The human's, she remembered, were not telepathic and that gave her the chance to show them what she could do. Smiling a bit, Miss Martian said, "Oh, I'll find out for you!" Focusing on Red Tornado's body, Miss Martian's facial expression turned serious, concentrating on only reading the robots mind.

When she picked up nothing but static, she remembered how inorganic beings did not have a conscious mind capable of making decisions. Robots and other inorganic items only had the ability to make decisions based on pure technological data, not past experiences. Dropping her head a bit for not catching that fact sooner, she turned back to the team. "I'm sorry; I forgot he's a machine, inorganic. I...cannot read his mind."

There was a hint of shame in her voice as she spoke, but she hoped that no-one caught it.

"Nice try though." Kid Flash complemented with a smile. It turns out that he was more interested in flirting with the young Martian. With that, the speedster leaned in a little closer, tilting his head a bit, "So...umm, do you know what I'm thinking right now?"

Superboy huffed at the green-eyed hero, turning his head to the side. He wasn't bothered by the fact that Kid Flash was flirting with Miss Martian, but he felt like this was only the beginning, and soon it would yield a stream of headaches for him.

Robin, knowing how Kid Flash acted towards women, rolled his eyes at his friend's obvious over-the-top attempts to woo the Martian. Jabbing his elbow into the red-heads side, he said, "We all know what you are thinking about."

Kid Flash feigned being hurt, sending a glare at his friend before straightening. Kaldur, however, was less than pleased with the news they had received from Red Tornado.

"We will ask Batman about Kagome later. For now, let us tour the club house."

Miss Martian scratched her head, thinking of how they could spend their time walking through the Cave's many rooms. "Well, Superboy and I live here, we can play tour guides."

She looked to Superboy, silently asking him if he would be alright with it. Apparently he wasn't, as he refused to guide and explain about the Cave's in's and out's. If they wanted to know about the Cave so badly, then they should go and get lost in it like he did a week ago.

Wally was more than happy to eliminate Superboy from the tour group. It was one less person to come between him and a private tour with the beautiful Martian.

Kaldur, seeing that the team was going to have to get used to dealing with one another, "Its team building, so we'll all go." Although, deep down in his gut, he felt that it would take more than a scenic tour of the Cave to get this group to act as a team. What they needed wasn't quality time, he fumed, what they needed was a mission.

* * *

Kagome had strolled down one deserted hallway after another for a while and was now beginning to get bored.

In her hand, she twirled the pair of handcuffs lazily around her index finger. She was beginning to think that staying here for so long had messed with her senses when a sweet scent drifted past her.

She hummed in appreciation, following the scent down several hallways till she stood in the middle of a modern styled kitchen. After making sure that the place was empty, she walked into the open space, heading straight for the oven where the smell was the strongest.

Opening the oven lid, she peered inside to see that a sheet of cookies were set inside. Seeing that they were about to burn, Kagome tugged a hand-towel off the marble counter and reached in to save the delicious treats. Taking the metal sheet with one towel wrapped hand she lifted it out of the oven and placed it on the kitchen's island counter.

Looking down at the cookies, she saw that although some of their edges were burnt, they were still good enough to eat. Picking one up from the tray, she popped the bit-sized cookie into her mouth.

It was soft and gooey, just the way she liked it. It even had an appealing crunch to it since it was set in the oven without a timer. Her tongue danced with joy at the many flavors invading her mouth.

Swallowing the cookie, she ran her tongue over her fangs, catching every last bit of the chocolate cookie. Kagome hummed in delight, as she snatched up an even larger sized cookie. Remembering that the oven was still running, she placed the treat between her lips as she bent down in front of the oven.

As she pressed the ovens off button, Kagome didn't notice when the room gained another guest, more specifically, a red-haired female Martian. It wasn't until Kagome heard a soft gasp from behind her that she realized that she was no longer alone.

With her back still facing the other person; she twisted her head slightly to study the alien that was now floating a few feet above the ground.

The girl's skin was green and had a few freckles across her cheeks, giving her a rather innocent, naïve presence. That strangely complemented her long fiery locks that traveled down and over her shoulders. Kagome also noticed that the girl's outfit was something that even she would have to say was outdated.

The Martian was dressed rather retro, with a pink pleated skirt, white polo shirt and matching pink wool jacket. She finished the look off with a pair of black shoes, knee-high white leggings and a black headband. All in all, a rather stylish ensemble, though Kagome would soon drop dead if she were to wear such a get-up.

She judged the alien girl to be of average strength physically, though she did not know if this girl's mental powers were above or below Martian ManHunter's. If it is the latter, then I should be careful to not seem like a threat around this girl. Kagome's eyes took on a dangerous gleam as she turned around fully to face the Martian, who now had both her feet on the ground.

They stood in silence for a while, waiting for the other to say something.

The Martian girl looked ready to either run back the way she came or scream at the top of her lungs. Kagome smirked at the reaction her mere presence had on the poor girl.

Meanwhile, for Miss Martian, things were a little different. She had come to the kitchen, expecting her cookies to be burnt to the center, but instead they were out on the counter. Relieved at first, she hadn't noticed the silver-haired prisoner that her Uncle John had told her about in the same room with her.

When she did spot the girl, it was because of the two white triangle ears that poked just above the counter top. At first, Miss Martian was stunned speechless. The green girl watched as the supposedly 'dangerous' girl turned around to face her, a cookie dangling from the edge of her mouth.

Unsure about how she should handle the situation, Miss Martian decided to make her own judgment of this silver-haired girl. "Umm, so how are the cookies? Do you think I made them right?"

Kagome lifted an eyebrow, curious as to how the green-skinned Martian could get over her insecurity so fast. What was even more unexpected was that the girl had actually regarded her politely and was asking her for her opinion of the cookies. Taking the now partly eaten treat from her mouth, Kagome looked from the Martian to the tray of cookies.

"I take it that these are yours then?" Not waiting for a response, Kagome slowly pushed the rest of the cookie into her mouth. Chewing on it for a while before she swallowed, Kagome turned her attention back to the green-skinned girl once more. "You made them very well."

Miss Martian smiled at the compliment, while in the doorway where she had flown in through were Kid Flash, Aqua Lad, Robin and Superboy, standing as stiff as if they had seen a ghost, or in this case Kagome.

They each were surprised to see that the silver-haired girl had escaped. Kagome turned her attention to Kid Flash, currently in a dark brown t-shirt and jeans. He looked adorable with his eyes straying towards Miss Martian now and then.

Bird-boy was currently sporting a green t-shirt undreneath a black jacket and jeans. He also was strangly wearing a pair of sunglasses while he was indoors.

Superboy was wearing a black t-shirt with an "S" symbol, she guessed to feel closer to the actual Superman. Other than that, he just stayed quiet, watching her every move.

Aqua Lad wore some kind of blue poliester jacket with jeans, covering his tattoos. Kagome found herself surprisingly saddened at this, since she found his markings to be rather interesting, especially when they lit up. She did notice though, that unliket he others who were wearing sneakers, he chose to wear sandals.

Overall, Kagome thought that they now looked much more dignified than in their crime fighting leotards.

Looking back at the alien, Kagome said, "As I said, they were very well made. Next time, I suggest that you put on a timer so that they don't burn." Nodding towards the group, she was about to take her leave when a voice stopped her.

"Wait."

Robin walked around the marble island, his opaque sunglasses keeping his identity still secret, and proceeded until he was standing right in front of her.

The boy wonder stood in front of her for a while before reaching up and grabbing hold of one of her ears. "Are these things real?"

The whole team stared at the thirteen year old, as he began to pull at the furry appendages. None of them had expected him to ask that, let alone be the one to try and find out if they were real. They all thought that Kid Flash would have probably asked, but definitely not Robin.

Kagome was stone still as the boy wonder rubbed and pulled at her ear, practically tearing it off her skull. It felt like de-ja-vu, or something.

She finally had enough when he tried to go for the other ear. Kagome snarled out a warning, "They are real and they hurt if you pull on them. So, leave. them. alone."

She watched in satisfaction as the boy pulled away. She rubbed the edges of her ears, trying to ease the pain, before crossing her arms in front of her chest. In her hand she held up the bat-shaped hand cuffs for Robin's inspection. "I was getting hungry, so I let myself out. Here, you can have these."

She threw the cuffs at him. Unprepared for it, Robin fumbled a bit, but caught the silver cuffs. Grumbling as he put the cuffs in his pocket, Robin looked up to see that Aqua Lad was walking toward them. Backing away, Robin thought he might sit this one out, curious to see how Kaldur would handle the situation.

Kagome's eyes narrowed as the Atlantean approached, her hands crossed in front of her chest as she waited for him to speak.

Kaldur took a shallow breath before looking straight into the girl's eyes. They shone bright with intelligence, but he could also clearly see that there was not one ounce of trust in them towards him or his team.

Clearing his throat, Kaldur decided to get straight to the point, "We have heard from Red Tornado that you have not been compliant with Batman's questionings about you." He watched her huff a bit, smiling at the action he continued, "Might we know why, Kagome?"

Kagome's ears flicked back and forth at the mention of her name. She smirked a bit, "I didn't want to answer that man's questions, that's why."

Aqua Lad stood silent, waiting for her to continue, and amazingly she did, "That human has given me no reason to trust him." She growled out.

Aqua Lad nodded in understanding, "But you so realize that if you do not, the League won't have any reason to trust you. Don't you want them to know the truth? That you had actually helped us when we were in trouble?"

Kagome shrugged, "That is not something I am concerned about. Your mentor's will not change their opinion of me if I were to be completely truthful with them."

**Crunch!**

A loud chewing sound drew everyone's attention away from Kagome and over towards Kid Flash, whose cheeks were stuffed with gooey cookies. Noticing that everyone was staring at him, he turned to face Miss Martian with a dreamy look on his face. "Nobody was touching them, so I just helped myself. Besides, I have a serious metabolism."

Everyone glared at the red-headed boy, except for one happy Martian. "I'll make more?" replied the green alien, although she was a bit uncomfortable with the speedster's loving expression. She was happy at the same time though, that she was able to meet such and interesting earthling as well.

Just then, Kid Flash sped around the island and had quickly picked up her hand. "Well babe, you know that you can always count on me to be on your side. It's a part of my charm to be courteous to the ladies."

Noticing that the red-head boy was about to kiss her hand, Kagome snatched her hand back. She was about to say something sharp when she saw his emerald eyes stare at her in confusion. Grimacing, she realized that she may have been too rash. After all, these boy's did defend my honor against their crime-fighting teachers, so she supposed expressing her thanks was the least she could do.

Letting her hands dangle at her side, Kagome replied, "Thank you, I appreciate it." Seeing that the boy had gotten over his confusion and was now smiling, she turned away from him, back to face all of them. "I also wish to thank all of you for standing up for me to your mentors. That could not have been easy."

What she did next shocked them a bit, as they witnessed the silver-haired girl bow towards them. "Arigato."

Robin, unsure of how to deal with the situation, quickly asked her to stop bowing, "We get it already, you don't have to do that!"

When Aqua Lad overcame his shock he smiled kindly, "It was what was right to do. Call me Kaldur'ahm; actually my friends call me Kaldur." He said, placing his hand on his chest in gesture.

"I'm Wally West." Kid Flash said, as he quickly changed his target to the cute Martian, his elbows on the kitchen island, along with a confident smirk on his face. "See, I already trust you with my secret ID. Unlike Mr. Dark-glasses over here, Batman has forbidden Robin from telling anyone his real name." His voice was smooth.

Kagome felt the urge to roll her eyes at his obvious flirting, watching the red-head's attempts at wooing the Martian girl. She also caught how the speedster was subtly trying to make Bird-boy look bad in front of her.

Although, it seemed that the Martian didn't mind as she replied, "Mine's no secret. It's Megan Moors. But you can call me Megan. It's an earth name. And I'm on Earth now." It seemed to Kagome that the Martian, now Megan, had the curse of being simple minded. She just hoped that it would not be so bad that headaches would plague her during her stay in this mountain base.

Kagome vaguely registered that Superboy had begun to walk out of the kitchen and had turned rigid. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD!" his hand clutched at the side of his skull, which caused all other people in the room to stare at him, and then switch over to Megan.

Kagome saw everyone else touched their heads as well, seemingly in pain or discomfort. A slight brush against her mind barrier had her spine straighten.

"_What's wrong? I don't understand. On Mars, everyone communicates telepathically._" Megan looked confused towards the boys, before staring intently at her.

Why can't I read her mind? Megan was about to ask Kagome out loud before Aqua Lad beat her to it. "Megan, stop." Megan was taken aback by the sudden hostility of the group. Looking at each of them, she saw that they were either disturbed or very, very angry.

"Things are different on Earth. Here, your powers are an extreme invasion of privacy." Aqua Lad tried to pick his words with tact. He didn't want to offend his new teammate, and cause an unneeded turbulence within the team.

"Besides, Cadmus's creepy little psychic genome's left a bad taste in his brain." Wally half-joked, pointing towards Superboy standing behind him. A regretful look on her face, Megan turned to Superboy to apologize, but was shot down.

With the most hate-filled glare he could muster, Superboy told the alien to stay out of his brain, and effectively walked to the adjoining room, plopping down onto the green couch that was placed against the wall.

After a moment of awkward silence Megan recovered first with a "Hello Megan!" and a light slap to her forehead. "I know what we can do!"

With that said, Megan levitated out the way she entered the kitchen, with Kaldur, Wally and Boy Wonder in tow, leaving her and Superboy alone. Kagome spared the brooding teen a glance.

Superboy felt conflicted with his reaction towards Megan. Sure, he thought, she probably didn't mean to cause him discomfort, but that's exactly what she did. He deserved to speak his mind, seeing that he was never able to before. Before he was liberated by Cadmus, anyway.

Those people, if they could even be called that, had contained him, imprisoned him, and subjugated him to a pod. He never had a choice. Now it was different.

"Cease your wallowing."

His head shot up, bright blue orbs crashing with gold. His hands clenched together. He was about to counter with his own remark, but stopped. Her eyes seemed different, like they understood what he was going through, but that was impossible, wasn't it?

Kagome noticed that her voice seemed harsh, but she didn't care. Trying to calm herself down, she began again.

"You must have been shaken by Miss Martian's sudden telepathic invasion and you feel you had the right to be testy. You did, but Megan is also new to this world. In a way, you two are similar in trying to find your place here, so you have to be the one to set things right."

Superboy listened to her words and found that it made sense, but what was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to make things right with his new team? He was still looking at Kagome when her voice sounded strained trying to hold on to the softness of when she began speaking.

Kagome let her words hang to see if he understood what she was telling him to do. Unfortunately this boy didn't seem to understand. She forced down the ice that wanted to seep into her words, and instead dryly elaborated.

"Apologize to her."

With her two cents in, Kagome turned toward the hallway, only to have her arm seized. Her body bristled, wanting to slip back into the battle practices she held with her men, but repressed the reaction and only stared at the hand, following it up the clone's arm to Superboy's face.

His eyes were intense as they tried to search through Kagome's bright yellow orbs. This girl had to have read his mind or something. There was no way he could be that easy to read. Her eyes were warning him to remove his hand, and he did, but not before scanning those expressionless orbs once more.

While doing that, his mind wandered, and thought how the golden orbs suited her, contrasting with her pale skin…

The young Kryptonian stopped his train of thought when the youthful red head poked her head in half way through the automatic sliding door. Catching the moment her two teammates were having, she misinterpreted it as the beginnings of an argument, and tried to stop them.

Putting on an apologetic face, the Martian squeaked out, "Superboy...Kagome, please?"

"Don't talk to me." Superboy said harshly, still standing in front of Kagome.

Glancing at the Martian, Kagome felt the alien girl's aura turn bleak. Brushing past the clone, she went up to the girl's side and settling her hand on her shoulder.

Megan watched as the silver-haired girl passed her, feeling a bit better after the light contact. It was nice to have another female around, even if she was a prisoner, it made her feel like she wasn't alone. Megan figured that Kagome had to have had her fair share of rejection, with her fluffy-looking dog ears and claws. It almost felt like they were kindred spirits.

Megan was snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Superboy walking towards her. The adolescent Martian mentally cheered at the sight. She might be able to save her new friendship with the Kryptonian after all.

* * *

A few moments later, all six of them were stepping out of an elevator waiting to see what Miss Martian had in store for them to do. As they walked into what looked like a hanger room for planes, Kagome watched as Megan detached herself from the group.

The green-skinned girl stood in front of a large oval-egg, explaining that it was her Martian bio-ship. Kagome looked skeptically at what Megan was referring to as her Martian ship and she could tell that she was not alone. They were all in doubt that this giant purplish egg could really be considered a ship.

Wally commented that it looked cute, being polite as always to the Martian girl he wanted to win over. That was until Miss Martian smiled knowingly at them, explaining that the ship was at rest. As she raised her hand, swiping it over in front of her, the egg morphed itself into a Martian ship. As Megan used her psychic powers to open the ship, she beckoned her fellow team members to follow her onboard.

"Strap in for launch."

As the four boys sat down, Megan noticed that there were not enough seats for Kagome to sit down. Extending her arm, she managed to instruct the bio-ship to make a small seat up against the wall.

"I'm sorry Kagome, the bio-ship can only seat so many people at a time."

Kagome didn't answer her, but instead silently sat down on the small seat against the wall, which was placed behind Robin's chair. She was startled to feel two thin straps come out from the wall, crossing at her chest as it attached itself once again into the wall. Looking at Megan, she nodded her thanks before crossing her legs and turning to face out the nearest window.

Once Miss Martian saw that everyone was strapped in, she opened up a channel to the main control room, where she knew Red Tornado would be. "Red Tornado, please open the bay doors."

Kagome guessed that Robin was impressed with the results of their flight, watching his sunglasses dart from one end of the window to the other. He was taking in the sights of New England when he exclaimed, "This is incredible, Miss M!"

Wally sighed a bit as he began staring at the Martian girl, "She sure is...I mean the ship, which like all ships is a...she." He ended poorly, but at least Robin was keeping quiet for once...

A snicker from the boy wonder caused Wally to stiffen a bit, "Fast with his feet, not so fast with his mouth." Kagome rubbed her forehead, listening to the two younger boys argue with each other, she hoped that she wouldn't get a headache from their bickering. Although, the scene did remind her of some people, specifically a young fox that always pestered a certain dog...

The memory brought her into a state of depression faster than she thought.

It was difficult to look back on those times with a smile, even when she knew that those memories were all she had left of her families. She drowned out the noise around her, lowering her head so that her silver bangs hid her sorrowful eyes and forcing herself to look out the window. She wasn't looking at anything, but it provided a good cover so that she could regain her composer.

She swerved her ears around, trying to focus when she caught Kaldur and Superboy's conversation from across the ship.

Kaldur's voice was soothing to her, making her ears strain unconsciously to try to hear him clearer. It contained a kind of gentle understanding of everything around him, making him sound much older than he was.

"I may not have psychic powers, but I can guess what you're thinking. You overreacted, and you don't know how to apologies. Just say sorry."

Behind the two, Kagome shifted her focus from the Atlantean to the green Martian. Spreading out her senses she could feel Megan's entire aura turn gloomy. Robin seemed to notice the chance in his new friend as well, turning to Megan, he whispered a sort of encouragement.

Megan, although grateful for her teammates concern, still dwelled in her sadness. She might have ruined her chances to become good friends with one of her teammates over her telepathy. Bowing her head, she remembered what Wally had said about Superboy being psychically controlled back at Cadmus.

She couldn't blame him for hating her, but now she would have to find a way to mend the space between them as teammates. Megan sighed, whispering back to Robin, "He doesn't seem to like me much."

Wally, who was watching the whole interaction, was smiling at the fact that they had forgotten that Superboy could actually hear everything that they were saying. After making them aware of the fact, Wally and Robin began asking their green Martian to show them some shape-shifting.

Kagome, who was looking out the window, heard their conversation and was instantly curious about the Martian's shape-shifting abilities. Watching as the Martian turned from a female Robin and Kid Flash, she was slightly impressed.

Robin clapped his hands as Miss Martian sat back in the control seat, "Impressive, but you know that you're probably not going to fool anyone with those."

Instantly conscious of the number of eyes that were on her, Megan mumbled that mimicking boy's is a lot harder for her than girls. Suddenly, a message from Mount Justice was patched through to the bio-ship.

_"Red Tornado to Miss Martian. An emergency alert has been triggered at the Happy Harbor Power Plant. I suggest you investigate, covertly. I'm sending coördinates."_

Miss Martian replied back when she felt her bio-ship had received the coördinates and had began to change their course towards the Happy Harbor power plant.

Robin mumbled under his breath, "Red Tornado's keeping us busy again." It was beginning to severely piss him off at the robot had volunteered to be their den mother. It was as if Red Tornado was only there to keep an eye on them and to supply reports of their 'progress' back to their mentors.

Catching what the boy-wonder had said, Megan tried to keep positive. "Well, a simple fire lead you to Superboy. We should find out what caused the alert."

Kagome glanced out the window as the power plant came into view. Her eyes widened at the sight before her. Three rather well-developed tornados were circling down and around the plant, causing the people inside to scramble to safety. From the corner of her eye, she saw one tornado that was coming at them fast.

"Martian, behind us!" Miss Martian nodded nervously, but managed to prevent them from being sucking into the cyclone of wind. As she took the bio-ship down for a landing, Kagome stood up from her seat followed by the rest of the team.

A hole in the bio-ship's floor provided a way out, as they each jumped down to the ground. Once out of the bio-ship, Kagome used her nose to find out where the winds were coming from. As she did, the team watched the tornado's circle around the main building of the power plant.

"Robin, are tornado's common in New England?" Aqua lad asked, but unfortunately he didn't realize that Robin had already flown towards the main building. Explosions from the inside alerted the team, as they raced to Robin's aid.

As the others went on ahead, Kaldur noticed that Kagome was lingering back. "Kagome, will you not help us?"

Her silver hair whipped around her face and her eyes held his. He saw her take in a breath, before giving him a look that clearly said that she was not going to offer any assistance. "I think it would be best if I didn't intervene with our fight. I will stand close by though."

Nodding at her decision, Kaldur went to join his team, a bit disappointed that the silver-haired girl would not fight by their side.

As the team of sidekicks all sped to help their friend, Kagome thought it was best if she stayed out of their fight. Finding a place off to the side of the entrance door, she leaned heavily against the wall.

Superboy jumped up over the railings, down to where Robin had been thrown. A large metal robot with a brown tattered scarf around his neck stood a bit away from them. Superboy immediately questioned the boy wonder, "Who's your new friend?"

Robin shook himself out, a bit dizzy from the blow, "Didn't catch his name, but he plays kind of rough!"

"My apologies, you may address me as Mr. Twister."

Superboy, as always began the fight by charging in head first. He was almost close enough to hit the tin can, but a huge gust of wind generated spontaneously underneath him, causing him to be swept up. His body was spun around and around until he was flung back against the opposing wall, leaving a body-sized dent in the metal. Superboy, unable to catch himself, hit the ground hard.

Witnessing this, Aqua Lad had tried to coördinate with Miss Martian and Kid Flash. After the speedster pulled out his goggles and set them right, he too was charging at this 'Twister'. Kid Flash sped forward, before flipping on his hands to slam into the tin can with his feet. It would have been an interesting attack, Kagome thought from the sidelines, if this Twister guy didn't generate another wind cyclone that flung the fast-talker out of the factory.

Kagome hissed a bit as she watched the red-head boy skid across the pavement.

_That has got to sting._

While Twister was busy with Kid Flash, the Atlantean and Miss Martian had come close to a frontal attack, before also being flung back by small twisters.

Kagome sighed as she leaned against the wall. She was beginning to wonder if these sidekicks knew what the hell they were doing.

They should have known that a frontal assault would not work. It seemed obvious to her that with their enemy's main attacking mechanism being pure air, they would be thwarted at every turn if they attacked head-on.

It also occurred to her that they were not in sync at all. Everyone was either doing their own thing, what they were used to doing with their mentors, or they were charging along in accordance with their emotions, like a certain clone.

It was all one large mess and, frankly, it was embarrassing to watch. A heavy robotic voice sounded then, "I was prepared to be challenged by a superhero. I was not, however, expecting children."

Robin seemed to be falling into the 'charging along with his emotions' pit, as he proclaimed, "We are NOT children!" He then threw one grenade and a few projectile disks from his jacket. Although the grenade exploded right at Twister's feet, it didn't seem to leave even a scratch on him. One projectile was able to lodge itself in the robot's chest, but was simply flicked away before it exploded.

"Objectively, you are. Have you no adult supervision? I find your presence here quite disturbing."

She didn't want to agree with the villain, but Kagome couldn't help wonder whether the team could handle this fight. So far, the only ending she could see to this battle is either the team running away to get help or stay to fight and die.

Robin was livid as he glared at the oversized wind-robot, "Well, we hate to see you disturbed. Let's see if you're more turbed when we kick your can!"

A moment later, Miss Martian had used the opportunity to psychically rip apart a metal steel container that was situated above Twister. As it broke in two, steam and a bit of debris fell out and onto their enemy.

While the steam seemed to aid in their cover, the fumes were enough for the machine to use against them. Using the fumes and the air in the room, the robot slammed the sidekicks into one another, tossing their unconscious bodies to the floor.

"Indeed that was quite turbing. Thank you." As Twister began to leave, he noticed another child leaning against the furthest wall. "I would commend you on knowing better than to get in my way, girl. That is, if I didn't think you were using the opportunity to observe me. I hope that you will entertain me better than your friends here."

Kagome sighed, as she leapt up and over to land next to where Robin and Kaldur had been knocked down at their bruised faces, she answered Twister with little interest, "They are not my friends and I have no interest in fighting you."

Silence reigned for a moment before the red and black android grunted in disappointment, "Oh, is that so? Well then, since you are not the hero I am after I will take my leave."

Kagome's ears flatted against her head as the wind picked up around the machine. As the robot levitated itself out of the power-plant, the team of teenagers began to gather their senses once more. Robin looked up at her, his sunglasses sliding down his nose a bit, granting her a peak of blue.

As he stood up, Kagome dully said, "I would have thought, after all your talk, you would have known how to deal with these kinds of situations, though it seems to be the opposite. You make me wonder if you enjoy getting your ass handed to you."

Robin threw her an irritated glare before running after Twister, ignoring her remarks. As the rest of the group followed, Kagome was once again left behind, strolling after them at her own pace.

When she got outside, she turned her ears towards the Martian, who looked to be in deep concentration, "Nothing, I'm getting nothing. Hello, Megan! Twister is Red Tornado in disguise. He's inorganic, an android, but how many androids do you know that can generate tornado's?"

Aqua Lad slammed his fist into his palm, outraged by the fact that this whole covert mission opportunity was a mere sham. The three apprentices stalked up to the robot that they were convinced was Red Tornado, intent on giving him a piece of their mind.

Kagome watched from afar as storm clouds gathered in the sky, turning grayish-black. The wind was picking up, swirling around them faster than before. "An impressive show, but we will not indulge you. We will not engage!" Kaldur shouted up at the robot he thought to be Red Tornado.

Not liking the look of how things were going, Kagome stretched out her senses. They told her that things were about to get dangerous, as her nose picked up the scent of building static. The feeling made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. In the sky, large bolts of lightning were being controlled by the android.

Kid Flash, seeing the lightning show above them, asked wearily, "Umm, can Red Tornado do that?"

The large robots metallic voice boomed above them, "You think I'm Tornado? How ironic." A second later, Kagome had to shield her eyes from the lightning blast sent at the team. There was an explosion, that she was sure of, that either obliterated the brats or had thrown them a good twenty feet away. Either way, she was sure that they weren't going to walk away with any minor injuries.

As the dust began to clear, Kagome ran from the building over to the now desolated field, trying to see if the five were alright. Seeing their scattered bodies, Kagome ran to the nearest person, which was Aqua Lad.

She knelt down next to him, brushing away some large rocks that covered his body. She then checked his body to see if anything was broken. Finding nothing serious, she was about to check the others before noticing the static that still clung to the air.

Knowing that Twister was searching to finish them off, Kagome slapped her palms together, letting her energy flow through her. She let it soak her being before erecting a barrier that shielded herself and the team from Twister's view. She cursed at how this must have looked, hiding from the enemy instead of standing her ground and killing the prick.

But she had to remind herself that this was not her fight. So, hiding them for now was the most she could do. A groan from the boy next to her got her attention. She watched as he held his hand against his forehead, his face crunching up in pain.

Kaldur clutched his head as he tried to sit up, groaning as he realised that he probably hit his head pretty hard when he was thrown back by the blast. He didn't notice Kagome was kneeling next to him until she placed her hand on his forehead.

Shocked by the contact, he stilled as an unusual feeling overcame him. His body felt light and the pain in his head was residing. He felt his eyes begin to grow heavy, as if he were being lulled to sleep by a silent song. Against his forehead, he could feel her hand pulsing and radiating warmth throughout his body.

Then it all stopped, the hand removed itself and the warmth was gone. His eyes snapped open to find that Kagome was no longer by his side. In fact, he could not see her anywhere. In the corner of his eye, he saw their current enemy hover close over them, but was not attacking.

Unaware of the barrier that shielded the team, Twister shouted, "Fine then, I won't deny that you have some power, but defeating you will not help me achieve my objectives. So stay concealed, but if you confront me again I will show you no mercy."

The rest of the team awoke just as Twister was leaving, trailing off towards the direction of the sea.

It was when he heard Superboy's anger towards Megan that he picked himself up, quickly making his way towards his team. Confused over what had just happened, he went over to Robin and asked, "Robin, did you see if Kagome was next to me just now?"

Looking at his friend like he was crazy, Robin replied, "No, I didn't see anyone next to you." Both of the teens were startled when they heard Superboy yelling at Miss Martian.

"She tricked us, you made us believe that Twister was Red Tornado!"

Kagome, who had perched herself in a nearby tree, was listened as Superboy verbally attacked Miss Martian, blaming her for the mix up and for messing up their first mission. Watching as Miss Martian just sat there taking his harsh words, Kagome was tempted to sucker-punch the boy a few meters into the sky...or maybe into the ground.

_Damn, he acts just like him..._

Coming out of her thoughts, she saw that the four boys were already on Twister's trail, leaving the alien girl behind. She was about to follow them when she picked up the scent of tears. Following the scent to the alien girl, her eyes softened. Her heart tugged at her, leading her over to the Martian's side.

Hearing the sound of footsteps coming towards her, Megan's head was bowed in shame. She didn't dare to look up at Kagome, thinking that she too was going to come down on her for her mistake. A mistake, she thought, that had endangered the entire team.

It was hopeless, she thought. She could never fit in, no matter where she went. It was just like when she was back on mars...

Then she heard Kagome beckoned to her softly, "Stand up."

Hearing this, Megan slowly raised her head. In front of her face, she found a pale striped hand, taking it she was lifted to her feet. "Call your ship to us, we are going after those idiots."

Megan sighed, "But...I am the one who made such a fatal mistake. They were probably right to tell me to keep out of it, I mean, I don't have any experience...and I don't want to make things worse."

"So, you made a mistake. Are you going to quit just becasue of that?" Kagome lectured sternly, "You will make more of them later on, but you will learn not to make them again. Now call your ship, I have a plan that will give you a chance to prove yourself to your team."

Megan's eyes widened, wondering what the mysterious girl had in mind.

* * *

Inside the bio-ship, Megan was seated at the control seat with Kagome standing at her side. The Martian girl was nervously chattering, trying to remind herself that the plan was flawless, but still having lingering doubts, "Do you think that this plan will actually work Kagome?"

Kagome placed a hand on the green-skinned aliens shoulder, causing her to look up. "Don't think about it Megan. One of the advantages to being in a group is that your attacks can come from at all angles. Although, back at the power plant, I noticed that everyone was out of sync which made their attacks ineffective against Twister."

Kagome let her hand drop, before staring out of the ship once more, "If you and your team manage to do correct that this time, I am sure that your team will win this battle. Now contact your team members."

Megan was about to object before she caught a disapproving look from Kagome, "They will have to get used to the idea of you being telepathic Megan. If you allow them to intimidate you, the whole team will lose a great advantage. Your telepathy is now essential in order for everyone to coordinate their attacks, but for that to happen you must stand your ground."

As the Martian nodded, Kagome said kindly, "I know that this will work and so should you. Have confidence in yourself."

Megan's eyes widened in astonishment at what Kagome had said. She had basically told her that she was an asset to the team, after all this time she had thought that she was more like a burden. After making so many mistakes in one day, she was sure that her self-confidence had seeped to a new level.

The silver-haired girl had said only a few words, but they were words of encouragement, and that was all she needed. Miss Martian nodded tightly, focusing on what the fight that was ahead of her now. Bringing a hand up to her temples, she closed her eyes, trying to find her team's mind waves.

_ "Listen to me, all of you"_

* * *

There were people screaming as they tried to run away from the multiplying tornados that seemed to keep on coming. Overhead, a blur of red flew across the sky in the opposite direction, catching many people by surprise.

Red Tornado was crossing over the four teenage boys, assessing the damage done to the harbor by this Twister. As he touched down from the sky, his robotic voice ordered the boys to 'Hit the showers', "I was hoping you could handle this, but clearly you cannot."

Robin tried to protest, stating that they had thought up a plan, but was shot down by their den mother.

"I was beginning to believe that you would never show up." said Twister, as he readied himself for the fight he was to win against the Justice League's robot hero. With that said, Twister generated up a couple small sized tornados, which Red Tornado matched one for one.

After a few minutes, Twister began to light up, the tubes attached to his arms and back glowing with electricity as he charged up one of his tornados. Lightning striked down on Red Tornado, throwing the red robot into the air. As the robot's body slammed onto the ground, Twister hovered over the hero, his metal fingers sectioning off to make attachment cords.

As Twister attached the cords to Red Tornado's head, the android muttered, "Remain still android, you're reprograming won't take long."

Red Tornado laid still for a moment, seemingly offline. A second later, the robots hand reached up to grab the cords that attempted to attach themselves to the back of his head. Twister was shocked to see that the android was still able to move after being charged to the point of over heating, until he saw that Red Tornado head morph into the face of the Martian.

Megan smirked up at the evil robot, its cords still in her hand, "Longer than you might think." Catching the robot off guard, Megan used her psychic powers to push him away from her, sending him into a wind tunnel Kid Flash had created.

Twister was spun around the small tornado, before he was flung out and into Superboy. Linking arms with the robot, Superboy began to punch the robot repeatedly in the middle of its body, sending large chunks of metal and circuits flying off into the air. He kept at it until he saw sparks come from out of the robots head, then he sent one final blow to the head sending him off of land and into the water.

After he had landed in the water, Twister began to run an overall systems check. His armor was almost fully destroyed, his motor responses were only reading at 30 percent and...

He was unable to finish his systems check when a large anchor connected with the center of his body. After administering contact, Aqua Lad summoned up his electric sorcery, charging the water molecules around him and shooting the robot back to the surface.

After Twister landed on the ground, the robot tried to crawl away when a light-green whip wrapped around its head. Kagome stood a few feet away from the robot, her poision whip sizzling into the androids head.

Pulling the whip taunt, Kagome watched as her whip sliced through the metal head of the android, decapitating the bulky machine. Using her demon speed, she seemed to have teleported in front of the android, picking it up, she twirled on her heel before tossing it up into the air.

Once there, Miss Martian was ready to finish the job. Taking hold of Twister with her psychic powers, she tore the machine apart. Robin then sent a few exploding disks, adding the final touch.

After letting it fall down on the ground, Megan floated down as well, waited for the others to join her.

As Kagome came to the Martian girl's side, the front part of the destroyed robot opened up to reveal a skinny mop-haired man, stuttering out in fear, "Foul...I...I call foul."

Kagome took one sniff at the man before turning to Miss Martian, "Megan, finish it." Nodding at the order, the Martian psychically picked up a large boulder, quickly sending it on a collision course with the man.

Kaldur's eyes widened in fear. "Megan, NO!"

**BOOM!**

The four boys stood still, staring back and forth between the now deceased man and the two girls that basically executed him. Robin reacted first in anger, shouting at the two girls, "Don't know how things are done on Mars, but on Earth we don't execute our captives! And you, I don't know where you came from, but I would not have expected you to basically give Megan permission to kill someone!"

Megan and Kagome looked at each other before back down at Robin. "You said you trusted us." Using her powers Megan lifted the rock, the team looked down at into the hole to find not a dead human body, but a broken machine.

Pointing down at the evidence, Megan explained, "That's why I couldn't read his mind."

"And why I couldn't pick up his scent." added Kagome, flipping a strand of silver away from her eyes.

Bending down into the dirt, Kid Flash picked up one of the robot's eyeballs. Grining widely, he flicked it into the air, "Cool, souvenier."

Kaldur sighed in relief that the man turned out to be a robot. It would have been very bad if they went back to the Cave with news of a dead villian.

"We should have had more faith in you." looking between Miss Martian and Kagome, Kaldur added, "The both of you. Maybe, Kagome, you would consider coming back to the Cave with us, as a member of our team."

Shocked at the suggestion, Kagome was about to decline. That is, until the one person she thought would be against having her on the team spoke up.

Robin rubbed the back of his head in thought, "I hate to admit it, but it was a really good game plan. I agree with Kaldur."

Kagome's eyes widened at that. Why would they put their faith in me, a person they barely know? It wasn't like she saved their lives or anything, so why were they suggesting something like this? She could see that they were already se ton the idea, but she just didn't know if it would work out.

Robin breathed out a heavy sigh, "Well, there is the problem of getting Batman and the rest of the League on board with this..."

"Awww, we can handle them!" shouted Wally, as he took off his goggles. "Besides, after they hear about how she helped us today, they won't have much to be suspicious about anymore. Kagome, you are definitely not labeled as a threat to us anymore; not after today."

Kagome looked at the three sidekicks. They all seemed to be open to the idea of her joining them, but what about the other two?

Glancing at Miss Martian's happy smile, she knew that she would have no problem with it. Superboy simply shrugged like he wasn't all that interested in what his teammates were suggesting, but Kagome caught a slight upturn of his lips that said otherwise.

She sighed as she tucked her hair behind her shoulder, "Can you guarantee that I won't be treated like a prisoner?"

Kid Flash laughed out loud, jabbing his thumb from him to his other two friends, "They will have to go through us first!"

Kaldur nodded in agreement, "The choice is your's, but this way you won't have to be alone."

The Atlantean's statement confused her a bit, but, she had to admit that he did have a point. She had nowhere else she could go.

Plus, this would give her with the perfect cover to observe all of the other aliens of this world. Most of them seemed to be members of the Justice League anyway, she thought, smiling a bit at her luck.

If she said yes, it would make her job easier. Plus, if she played her cards right, she could be granted full access to all the information gathered during the team's missions. It was the perfect solution.

With her mind made up, she faced the five hero's. "Well, I guess I have no choice." she said slowly.

Folding her hands in front of her, she bowed towards the young hero's, her jeweled necklace swinging from side to side. "It seems that I will have to impose on your hospitality a while longer."

Lifting up her head, she was greeted with many smiles that made her want to frown. Wally, who had sped up to her side, had began to talk all about the Cave and where she might want to avoid.

"Oh, and one thing we forgot to mention." Robin said as he began to walk away, "You haven't met him yet, but we sort of have a robot babysitter. He's probobly searching the entire Cave for you right now, so we should probobly get back soon."

As Miss Martian summoned the bio-ship, Kagome could only wonder what she had gotten herself into.

* * *

**Thank you everyone for being patient with me! **

**Here is another chapter edited and finished.**

**Oh, and I'm sending a shout out to my sister who turned 21 yesterday, on the 1st Day of Spring!**

**Happy Birthday, Sister!**

**Anyway, Thank you to all who Review and Follow this story.**

**I am deeply honored!**

**Happy Readings!**


	5. Leader of the Pack is Alpha

**I do not own Inuyasha or Young Justice. This is solely for entertainment.**

**Chapter 5: Leader of the Pack is Alpha**

The night was lit up by the dull shine of the full moon and the countless twinkling stars. To Kagome, the Caribbean Sea was a sight to behold under the pale gleam of the moon. The water below her took a shine that glittered as the waves tossed against each other. The water's surface looked like a painter's black canvas that was only disturbed when the occasional fish decided to chance a leap out of its underwater haven.

Although, even with this beautiful sight, Kagome didn't feel her mood become any lighter. Resting her cheek on the palm of her hand, she could only reminisce darkly on the reason she was so annoyed, and it all pointed towards the Batman and his decision to send her out with the team on their first unchaperoned mission.

Kagome released a large and necessarily loud sigh through her new black-colored mask as she continued to stare out the side window of the Bio-ship. The clouds hovered lower than usual over the ocean, creating a film of mist that occasionally sprayed on the windows surface.

They had been flying to a place called Santa Prisca for a while, and even though Kagome enjoyed the silence, it seemed to only enhance the tension that traveled through the air.

Kagome's nose twitched at the mixture of nervousness and excitement that coated the others on the Bio-ship, but that was to be accepted.

Shifting in her seat so that her sword wasn't digging into her side, she glanced at the people around her. Kid Flash and Robin were seated at the front of the ship while Superboy, Aqua lad and herself were seated in the very back. Even though she couldn't see all of their faces, Kagome could tell that everyone was excited.

Every now and then, a foot would tap or Megan would chew on her bottom lip when she thought no one was looking. Even Superboy would unconsciously clench his fingers in his pants to relieve the tension.

It was the night the team was out on their first covert mission and emotions ran high. Well, at least for everyone other than her. Kagome was currently bored to tears, having nothing to do but think back on the events that landed her here.

* * *

**Flashback**

* * *

_It had been a few days after the team had come back from defeating Mr. Twister and announcing to Red Tornado that Kagome was going to be apart of their team. After Kaldur had broken the news to Red Tornado, the robot wasted no time contacting Gotham's Dark Knight and reporting on what had transpired._

_The Batman, though, was busy dealing with some suspicious drug rings in Gotham's Underworld, so he was unable to travel back to deal with the situation for a few days._

_The last few days though, had been a challenge. The good news being that Red Tornado had agreed to not confine her back to the interrogation room. However, the compromise was that Red Tornado had kept Kagome under high surveillance, only letting her out of his sight when she wanted to to to the bathroom. It was distracting at times and more than a little annoying._

_So much for not being treated like a prisoner._

_It wasn't so bad though. Kagome found that the robot could actually make some interesting small talk. A few words here and there, but nothing near a full blown conversation, but it was enough for her to not completely hate the robot. It sort of reminded her of her first conversations with her Lord._

_Needless to say, when the Bat was able to come back to the Cave, Kagome could almost physically feel the anger that rolled off him in waves. _

_Leaning against one of the walls with Red Tornado standing by her side, they were watching Robin and Kid Flash fight against one another on the sparing platform. Both boys were dressed in their regular day clothes, but that didn't seem to restrict their movements any._

_Of course, she could only wonder how the Bird's (aka: Robin) sunglasses were able to stay perfectly secure on his face as he flipped in the air over the red-headed speedster. Watching them fight, she mentally kept track of every mistake the both of them were making. Among other things, she found that every now and then, the Bird's arm lifted up just enough that, if he wasn't careful, an attack could connect with his abdomen._

_The speedster, usually a jokester from her limited contact with him, was strangely focused when sparing. He made many more mistakes than the Bird, but overall would make a good warrior..._

_Her eyebrows furrowed as she let out a frustrated, but quiet sigh. What the hell was she doing, assessing these boys as if they were apart of her battalion? She was not their general so why was she acting like she was? Tearing her eyes from them, Kagome tried to find something, anything else to focus on, but found nothing._

_Superboy had just come into the main entrance room with Miss. Martian and Kaldur when the large Zeta tube began rotating, sending a bright light out of the middle._

_A computer voice droned out, "Recognized, Batman. 02."_

_As the shape of the Bat became solid, Kagome could feel his eyes searching for her. When he saw her and Red Tornado she allowed a small grin to ease across her face. The action made the dark-cowled man's frown deepen and his eyes narrow as he walked over to the sparing match, intent on getting fully caught up through his protégé._

_It filled her with glee that she was able to get a rise out of the usually stoic man without even trying. It was almost similar to the feeling she got from pissing off her Lord when she was feeling playful. Of course, she couldn't compare the two. The Batman was nowhere near the fearful status of the Western Lord, which she had clearly deduced from her interrogation sessions with the Dark Knight._

_"Red Tornado has informed me about what happened during the team's confrontation with Mr. Twister, but I want to hear what you have to say. Tell me what happened and why that girl is outside of the interrogation room. Now."_

_Robin and Wally stopped their matched then, and began to retell what had happened a few days ago. All of the teens gathered around Batman, each of them exclaiming that she had helped them and has decided to become apart of their team. Kagome then felt her robot watchman detach himself from her, making his way towards Batman. _

_She was left alone for a while before the Atlantean, Kaldur-san, had traveled away from Batman after giving his own testimony. He was then making his way towards her. She hadn't bothered to move from her spot, but kept her eyes on him as he came closer, tracking his movements out of habit._

_What he did next though had her usually stoic expression close to breaking._

_He walked until he was standing a few feet from her before he did something truly questionable. With his hands at his sides, he bent the upper half of his body to become fully parallel with his hips. He bowed to her. She didn't move, didn't react, but instead waited for him to rise and explain himself._

_As he rose, his eyes connected with hers, "I wanted to thank you for everything you did a few days ago. We are glad that you agreed to become apart of this team."_

_Looking straight into her eyes, Kagome could see that he was trying to find something in her. An emotional response to his words that will lead him to understand her better. It was a useless attempt in her opinion, but it was interesting to see him try to figure her out. It presented a challenge to pass the time._

_Glancing at Batman, who had one eye on her, she replied, "Not everyone is as thankful as you are, Kaldur-san. Besides, you already thanked me a few days ago for joining this team. There was no need to bow."_

_Pushing off of the wall, Kagome lessened the distance between them. From where she stood, she could see that thin outline of the Atlantean's gills. They didn't look slimy like how a frog-demon's gills were, but instead seemed to have an unusually healthy shine to them. She found them interesting, just like how she found his eel tattoos and his silver eyes interesting._

_She wondered if all Atlantean's had the same traits and made a mental note to look deeper into it. _

_Kagome crossed her arms at her chest, revealing her pristine white yukata and her jeweled necklace that rested at her bosom. She leveled the Atlantean's stare with her golden orbs, "Like I said before, it was nothing."_

_"But it is," Kaldur said matter-of-factly, "Even though you told me that you would have rather not have gotten involved, you assisted us when we were acting less like a team. It was because of your actions that Megan is able to feel more comfortable here and we have not lost a valuable team member."_

_Looking at the Martian girl, she caught the green alien stealing glances at Superboy from time to time, a faint blush appearing on her features every time she looked away. Grinning slightly, Kagome replied, "Your friends are strong and have bonds rooted in trust. The Martian, Megan-san, would have come out of her shell with time."_

_Kaldur, who had followed her line of vision. A gentle smile crossed his features as he saw Megan and Superboy conversing minutely. "Yes, I think that this team will work out in the end."_

_"Well..." Kagome said carefully, shifting her eyes back to the Atlantean, "I have doubts about that." _

_That caught the Atlantean by surprise. Turning to the dog-eared girl, his eyes spoke to her that he was confused," But didn't you say..."_

_"I say I have doubts because of what happened back when your friends first fought against that Twister guy."_

_Without looking at his reaction to her words, Kagome pressed on, "This team has the potential to be formidable, but all their strength won't do any good unless they learn to attack as one and be completely in sync with each other. This is a problem since the only efficient way to do this is through using Megan-san's telepathic connection, but some people on the team, like Superboy-san, are uncomfortable with this."_

_Pausing, she let the information sink in, "That is one problem, and the other is that there is currently no-one here that is willing to take on the role of alpha."_

_Kaldur looked confused for a moment before asking, "Alpha? You mean in terms of leadership, who will take on the responsibility of leading the team?"_

_Although he found it odd that she referred to a leader as an alpha of a pack, Kaldur guessed it wasn't so strange, since she herself is technically part dog. _

_Kagome nearly smacked herself on the forehead for her blunder. After spending so much time with other demons on her planet, she had accidentally used a term that was more linked to the social order of packs of dogs and wolves, rather than human social order._

_She continued, hoping that he wouldn't ask her about it, "Yes, that's what I meant. It will not be wise to leave this team without an alp...a leader, for too long. They need a person they can rely on, someone everyone could trust to lead them right. If not, then I can say with certainty that when this team will go into battle, they will go in blind and without direction. Eventually there will be casualties." _

_Thinking about what she had just said, he realized that she was correct. Eventually this team will need a leader, but who would know how to go about it. Looking back at his team, he tried to find which of his comrades would make a good leader._

_Superboy and Miss Martian were disregarded almost immediately, mainly because he guessed they wouldn't want the position anyway. And even if they did, Superboy was too temperamental and relied on his emotions far too often. A leader must be rational and make decisions based on what is necessary to complete a mission. Whereas Miss Martian was new to this world, and he figured because of her timid character, she would not want the position._

_And Wally, well...he was an overall excellent teammate, but would probably cave in under the pressure of having to lead the team. Then again, that wouldn't mean his friend wouldn't try to compete, if only to impress Megan._

_At first glance, Robin would be the sensible choice. His friend did have the most experience and is the apprentice of the League's main operator, Batman. Yet there was a lingering doubt in the back of his mind that left the Atlantean wondering if the Boy Wonder would know how to handle a new team, one that needed to be instructed and forged from scratch._

_He didn't even consider himself a possible candidate before looking down at the dog-eared girl, he suddenly had an idea. "Would you consider leading us then, Kagome?" _

_He received a dubious look from the girl, clearly asking why he would even consider the idea, "It would solve the problem you had just mentioned. Plus, I have a hunch that you have had experience leading others in the past, from how you instructed everyone in the Twister battle a few days ago. It would give you the chance to become more acquainted with us as well..."_

_"No." Her golden eyes had frozen over, as cold and barren as a tundra. _

_What was this guy thinking? They barely even knew her. Besides, she had not come here to train anyone, and she certainly hadn't come here to lead a fresh batch of teenage hero's. She had one reason for being here and one alone._

_Her hand traveled up to wrap around her jeweled necklace, knowing that the gem still raged with dark purple storm clouds, she clenched it tightly. She was here to find out what she had lost, what her Lord told her that she needed back. And after she finds it, she will go back to her Lord, to the Western Lands, to her home._

_Still, other than that she had no reason to snap at him. Looking up at the Atlantean, she found his eyes held a guilty shine to them. It almost made her smile, how easily she could read these people's emotions._

_Kaldur saw her hand move to surround her necklace, thinking that he somehow erupted some unpleasant memories for her, he apologized, "I'm sorry, Kagome. I apologize if what I said made you feel uncomfortable. I only suggested it because..."_

_He felt her clawed finger press up to his lips, stopping him from talking. _

_"It's not that." Kagome said, her voice holding a light tone. Pausing for a moment, she removed her finger from his lips. "I am not the right choice. The leader must be someone this team can trust, not someone who just appeared under suspicious circumstances. You agree, ne~?"_

_Kaldur nodded slightly, he mentally shook away the strange tingling sensation left on his lips. _

_Shifting his silver eyes away from her and to the rest of his team, he said, "Yes, I do think that the team should have a leader they could trust,"_

_He was silent for a moment, making her think that the conversation was over before looking back at her, a serious look in his eyes, "But that doesn't mean that we don't trust you just because we met you that night at Cadmus. All of us talked it over days ago, and the vote was unanimous. We find that you are trustworthy. Even if the Justice League doesn't quite yet." _

_Kagome was stunned silent. Not thinking that it was true, she played off her shock with a smirk, "Well, I am glad for that Kaldur-san. But, the team should really get to know me first before making such a decision. You never know, I could only be here for selfish reasons."_

_Kagome saw a change in him then, his shoulders became stiff, a sign that told her he was was no longer comfortable in her presence. His breathing stopped for a second and his heart rate increased by a few beats. It was a normal reaction, one that she often received from her more newer soldiers before they had their first one-on-one sparing match against her._

_Her mind flashed back to one incident when she had sent an ogre demon to the castles healing wing after she dislocated both his arms. She had been reprimanded by her Lord the next day and a quick sparing match with him had made sure she never went so hard on her men again._

_Her hand suddenly sought out her fang, gripping its sheath with her hand tightly, it's shock pulsing through her palm. _

_When she looked up she caught the Atlantean staring at he sword with a questioning look. Kagome was sure that he would have asked her about it if he hadn't heard Batman call for him. _

_"Aqua Lad, bring your new team member over here. I have a mission for the team." The Dark Knight had been watching the two of them closely when Kaldur had went over to speak with Kagome. He was still suspicious of her, but after Robin and basically every other teenager told him that they trusted her he had no choice but to let her stay with them._

_As Kagome and Kaldur crossed the room to join the others, Batman detached himself from the circle of teens and pulled up digital layouts and League gathered information on an overhanging holographic projection._

_"East Santa Prisca. This island nation is the source of a dangerous and illegal neo-steroid. It's a strength enhancing drug, sold on the streets under the code-name "Venom". "_

_Batman switched the computer image to show a detailed blueprint of the factory. "Inferred-heat signatures indicate that the factory is still operating at full capacity, but all shipments of Venom have been inexplicably cut off. That's where this team comes in."_

_The black-clowed man turned around to emphasize his point, "This is a covert, recon mission only, observe and report. If the Justice League needs to intervene, it will. The plan requires two drop zones."_

_Kagome rolled her eyes at the human, thinking how he acted more like a den-mother than Red Tornado._

_"So who's in charge?," Robin asked, anticipation tingling every muscle of his body._

_The question seemed to catch the two adults off guard, or rather one human and one robot, until Batman told them to work it out between the team's members._

_Nodding, the masked boy sported a grin at his mentor's answer. This would be perfect, the chance for him to finally operate his own team. As the new team's leader, not only would he be more like his mentor, but he would also be one step closer to becoming the next Batman._

_As if that signaled the end of the discussion, Batman turned to the rest of the team._

_"Miss Martian, go and ready your Bio-ship for departure. Everyone else, suit-up and meet back in the hanger room in fifteen." Not waiting for a response, the Bat turned his back to the team to turn off the monitors._

_"Kagome, stay here."_

_At that, all of the teens scattered except for Kagome, who was still standing in front of the Batman and Red Tornado after everyone else left. _

_Batman then turned to the red robot, asking for him to talk with her alone. At the order, Red Tornado lifted himself up towards the ceiling, almost looking like he was going to crash through it before a steel circle door opened for him. Red Tornado disappeared through a hole in the ceiling, his feet nearly passing through it before the door closed again, leaving the two completely alone._

_Batman spoke darkly, trying to intimidate her again. "From what the team has told me, you helped them in their first battle after you attempted to escape. Yet you came back here. Why?"_

_Her eyes betrayed nothing, no emotion, as she replied, "They offered me free room and board. How could I say no?," she said bluntly._

_Batman's eyes narrowed and his shoulders squared at the dog-eared girl's response. Sighing, he resigned, not wanting to have to pull information from her anymore, especially since all of the young hero's had expressed their acceptance of her as their teammate._

_"You are free to join the team in their missions and aid them in covertly attaining information. But, let me be perfectly clear," stepping towards her, he muttered grimly, "I still think that you're hiding something and I intend to find out what it is."_

_Kagome rose an eyebrow in a mocking gesture, "Is that supposed to warn me?"_

_"It's supposed to inform you that I am still watching."_

_A malicious grin crossed her lips. As she held his gaze, she stepped closer to the black-caped man until she was close enough to touch him. Laying her hand on his shoulder, she was satisfied to feel it tense up at the contact. _

_"Don't worry about me, Bats." Kagome said, a hint of dark playfulness in her voice, as she patted the man's back. "Just don't lose too much sleep over something you won't find."_

_After sharing that, Kagome let her hand slide from his cape and turned around to walk down the hallway that would lead to the hanger room. Batman watched her go until she turned the corner, never noticing that she was carrying a black piece of material or that there was now a large square hole in the middle of his cape. _

* * *

**End Flashback**

* * *

Kagome was still smiling at the memory, thinking that by now the Bat must have seen the hole in his cape. Touching the edges of the new black mask she was wearing, she let out a small giggle before hearing Megan-san say something.

Looking out the large front window, Kagome saw the outline of an island make itself known. It was growing larger as they flew towards it and the adrenalin levels of the team reached new levels.

A few moments later, Megan voiced that the first drop zone was approaching in thirty seconds. As she said this, Kaldur stood up from his seat, allowing the chair to melt back into the ship. He lifted his hand to press against the large Atlantis symbol at his stomach, as he did his uniform's color changed from its usual bright colors to a grayish black.

Once he was prepared, he signaled to Megan that he was ready for his drop.

The Martian nodded, "Putting Bio-ship in camouflage mode."

Kagome looked at them with interest as the Bio-ship shifted again, this time creating a hole in place of where Kaldur had previously been sitting. She watched as the Atlantean jumped through the hole and into the waves below.

Kagome was about to turn back to the window when Megan spoke, her hand outstretched with two small buds on her palm, "Here, these are ear-coms. It will be easier to communicate if we wear these."

Reluctantly, Kagome took the ear-buds and opened her cloak before placing them inside her yukata. She didn't want to risk the chance of becoming deaf if someone shouted into their speaker or if it suddenly sent out a high-frequency screech.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Megan start to fiddle with her hands again, stealing nervous glances at her every now and then. It was almost as if she wanted to ask her something, but didn't have the nerve to. Kagome tried to ignore the alien-girl's internal battle, but after a few minutes it began to be too much to ignore.

Sighing, Kagome looked up to catch the Martian try and turn her head away again. Kagome almost growled at the girl, but refrained, thinking that Megan didn't mean any harm. Instead, she took a shallow breath, calming herself before turning to face the Martian girl.

She forced her voice to become smooth, as if she were talking to something very small and scared, "Is there something on your mind, Megan-san? You look like you want to ask me something."

The Martian girl put her hands out defensively, waving them back and forth, "Oh! No, it's nothing. Just..."

When it looked like the girl wasn't going to share what was troubling her, Kagome sighed. Trying one more time, she spoke calmly, "It's alright Megan-san. Tell me, what is it that you wish to ask me?"

Megan coiled in a bit, seeming to be building up her courage. "Well...I wanted to ask you about... "

Kagome stayed silent, waiting to see if the green girl would either give up or explode out what was on her mind. Apparently, it was the latter.

"I wanted to know why I can't seem to sense your mind.", realizing her outburst was rather loud, Megan covered her mouth and looked down in embarrassment. "What I mean is, whenever I try and connect with you telepathically, I fail. It has never happened before so I wondered why."

Megan stared at her for a response, her anticipation building up inside her. Realizing that their conversation had drawn in everyone's attention, Kagome let her eyes travel around the Bio-ship. She was amused to find Robin, usually so controlled, was kneeling on his seat and watching them over the back of chair. Although she couldn't see his eyes, she was certain that they were filled to the brim with curiosity.

The same could have been said for Kid Flash and Superboy, though the clone chose to feign being interested in the discussion and simply lean back with his arms crossed over his chest.

Having no other choice but to explain, Kagome looked back to the Martian, "Tell me, Megan-san, what is it that you see when you try to connect with my mind?"

Looking at her strangely for a minute, Megan placed a hand to her head and closed her eyes. Kagome felt a brush against her barriers a moment later, "I see...walls of light that block my path. But, they're always there, surrounding you which-ever way I try to go."

"Exactly. Those walls of light are preventing you from establishing a connection. "Kagome said, "It is difficult to explain, so I will give you the simplified explanation."

Everyone around her seemed to come in closer, as if to hear her better, not wanting to miss what she had to say. "The reason you cannot read my mind is because my powers are constantly activate and protect my mind with barriers, which are the lights you see. These barriers prevent anyone from entering my mind without my consent. That is why you were not able to connect with me."

Kid Flash, who was rocking his feet back and forth, hummed out, "Ok, so can't you just turn it off or something? You look like you have good control over your powers, so it shouldn't be a problem."

Shaking her head, Kagome turned to the red-head, "Although I do have control over them, Wally-san, my powers act on their own at times, protecting me even when I do not consciously will for them to do so."

It was close enough to the truth, she thought. Even after she had completed her Lord's intense training her powers have spontaneously risen up to shield her during battle. What she didn't tell them was that she could technically link her mind with another's using her fang.

Looking down to grip the sword at her side, she could feel it pulse lightly as if it were alive. As if it had a heartbeat all its own. She remembered vividly of the day it was forged and how painful it was. Her Lord had taken her to Totosai, stating that a fang was essential for his general to have. Just the memory of Totosai's iron pliers had her rubbing the side of her cheek in a soothing motion.

Taking her hand away from her cheek, Kagome turned back to Megan, "Because of this, I'm afraid that we will not be able to communicate telepathically as you would have liked, Megan-san.

Megan nodded sadly, "Ah, I see. That's too bad, Kagome."

Looking at the Martian, she was puzzled by her sadness, "Why is that?"

"Well," Megan began, "I was hoping that we could have communicated telepathically with all of my new friends. I thought it was kind of sad that I wouldn't be able to with you, seeing as you and I are the only two girls on the team. Plus, you helped me realize that I have a place here on Earth with the team. So, I guess I wanted to express my gratitude to you the way Martian's do back on Mars."

Kagome's bangs covered her eyes as she faced out of the window again, not bothering to reply back. When the Martian didn't receive a response she turned back to maneuvering the ship.

_Friends? _

She hadn't realized that she had become such a person for the alien-girl until now. Thinking back on it though, she knew her actions were out of her usual character. Had she had been overly concerned with the girl when the alien girl said the team was "better off" without her?

She _had_ presented the girl a chance to show her worth to the team, true, but she hadn't really given it a second thought. It seemed, however, that her actions had meant a lot to Megan.

Suddenly, she remembered the conversation she had with Kaldur a few hours back. He told her that she had done more for Megan than she realized and had helped her open up to the team. Looking back at the Martian, she thought about how well Megan was adjusting to life on Earth, being from another planet and, technically, another world.

She could understand how that felt, since she had traveled to a different world at one time as well. She could imagine that it was the same for Megan.

Maybe that was why she was partial to the Martian, because they shared the same experiences at one point. Or maybe it was her wanting to show the girl her obvious worth so that she would stop pitying herself. Either way, Kagome mused, she had unknowingly become a person the Martian was comfortable enough to call her friend, even though she didn't deserve it.

The thought left her feeling bitter sweet.

Deciding not to think on it anymore, she was startled by the sound of Aqua Lad's voice as it came over through the com, _"Heat and motion sensors are patched, data is now on a continuous loop. Move in."_

Megan followed the order, moving inland to where she could safely place the Bio-ship over a small circle of dense trees. As they floated above the treetops of the second drop zone they all stood from their seats, letting them dissolve back into the ship.

Megan raised her hand, mentally instructing her Bio-ship to let down hooks and lines for their decent to the floor. Robin and Kid Flash quickly took their lines and attached them to the belts at their hips. Wally then hit a pressure button on his chest, allowing his colorful uniform to change just as Aqua Lad's had.

Absolutely psyched by the new technology, Wally turned toward Megan to show off, "How cool is this?"

Megan smiled at her new earth friend's excitement, "Very impressive," She closed her eyes, letting her Martian powers glide through her and morph her organic clothes, beginning at her feet, her clothes changed to suit her needs as Wally watched the transformation.

"Umm…" Wally ogled at the Martian before turning into a dreamy stare. "That works too," Turning towards Superboy, he noticed that only he and Kagome were not dressed in their new stealth uniforms. "Hey Supy, Kagome, not too late to put on the new stealth tech."

Superboy scowled at the idea of him in spandex, "No capes, no tights. No offence."

"It totally works for you," Surprised that the Martian would be so bold, Kagome turned toward the alien girl as she shyly tried to cover up her blunder, "I...In that you can totally do good work in those clothes."

Megan tried to play through the awkward moment, giving Superboy a thumbs up, an earthy sign of affection as she recalled it. When all he did was look away, Megan felt horrible. She had accidentally embarrassed him by saying such a spontaneous thing. Pulling up her hood, the Martian tried to cover up her own embarrassment, turning invisible for good measure.

Kagome smirked at the Martians behavior while she straightened out her yukata and cloak, "I will be more comfortable in the clothes I have on."

She then gathered up her silver locks, twisting it together before stuffing it into the back of her hood. She then flattened her ears so that she could pull the fabric up and over her head, covering all signs of her demon physiognomy.

Once that was settled, and after Megan got over her nerves, the Bio-ship opened the floor beneath them. Robin and Kid Flash jumped through the hole first, lowering themselves safely to the ground while Megan levitated from the ship down to them.

Kagome looked down the hole, finding the best way down when suddenly Superboy jumped. Watching him as he almost landed on the others, he created a small crater in the ground. Kagome almost wanted to roll her eyes at the idiot for possibly giving away their position.

Once the dust cleared, Superboy stood up and smirked, "Knew I didn't need a line."

Robin, however, was not as amused as Superboy, "And _yet_, making a seismic event might not have helped us much with the covert."

Sighing, Kagome readjusted her sword at her hip before she leaped from the ship, maneuvering her body in such a way that when she landed it was soft and soundless, as if she had floated down. Her feet touched the ground next to Superboy as her billowing white cloak settled around her.

Standing up, Kagome lifted her fist and hit Superboy on the top of his head, enough so that a small bump was clearly starting to show.

"Ow! What did you do that for?" Superboy growled out, looking like he was about to hit her back.

Kagome huffed from behind her mask, "Shut up, the Bird is right. Think before you act, or else you're going to endanger both yourself and your team, _baka_."

Realizing that she had a point, Superboy lowered his fist, grumbling under his breath as he did. Robin rolled his eyes at the scene, pulling up his portable watch computer, he contacted Aqua Lad who was back at the beach. "Aqua Lad, Drop zone B is go."

Aqua Lad's voice then replied through the com, _"Head for the factory, I'll track down your GPS and rendezvous ASAP."_

"Roger that."

For the next hour, they had traveled through the dense forest landscape of the island. Kagome, much to everyone's surprise, had taken to the treetops, stating that the elevation would make it easier for her to warn them if danger was coming. Most of the time Megan was right next to her, flying through the forest as she leapt from tree to tree.

The others were running on the forest ground, jumping over large roots and boulders along the way. The landscape changed sometimes, like when they had passed the waterfall a few miles from the Venom factory. After a while, Megan told her that she had to retain some of her strength just in case and floated down to walk with the others.

Of course, Kagome knew better than to believe that, as she saw the alien-girl landed next to Superboy. She saw the Martian smile at the boy before walking next to him, not too close but close enough for Kagome to know what was going on.

Grinning a bit at the alien, Kagome leapt and landed on a tree branch above the group. Looking down, she saw that the Bird had pulled up his computer again, only this time there were many red dots that covered the screen. She was about to question him about it when her ears perked up. Pulling her hood down, her ears were open to swivel from left to right, pinpointing the sound of men's boots trudging along the forest floor.

A moment later, Superboy picked up the sound of a twig snapping, "Did you here that?"

Kid Flash and Megan whirled around to face the clone, wondering what he was talking about, Kid Flash asked, "Umm...no. Wait, is this a super-hearing thing?"

Kagome saw Robin disappear into the night, leaving his friends without a word. Growling to herself, she wondered if she should follow him or stay with the others. Realizing that the other three didn't see the Boy Wonder vanish into the forest, she decided to stay and inform them what was going on.

Without missing a beat, she dropped down to the ground in front of Kid Flash, Megan and Superboy, her ears still perked up in the direction of the sound. "There are others in the forest about hundred meters down the hill. I picked up the sound of their boots and it sounds like there are about fifteen of them all together."

Kid Flash nodded before turning around to talk with Robin, "Ok, Robin now what?", but to his surprise there was no one there. "Man, I hate it when he does that!"

Kagome pointed in the direction where the Bird took off, "I saw him go off in that direction."

A voice suddenly spoke through everyone's ear-coms, _"Kid, Superboy! Switch to infer-red, see if you're being tracked."_

Kid Flash didn't reply, but instead pulled down his goggles and pushed a button at the top of the lens. Looking in the direction of where Robin went, the speedster whispered, "We've got a squad of armed bozos incoming."

Superboy leapt behind a large rock, squinting a bit to change his eyes sensitivity, he focused on the heat signatures of the environment. A moment later, he found another group of armed people, "Two squads...but they'll meet each other before they find us."

Suddenly gun shots were heard in the far off distance. Megan covered her mouth in surprise and Superboy's eyes hardened at the sound.

"No super-hearing required now." Kid Flash dully joked, though still oddly holding a seriousness tone.

Aqua Lad seemed to have heard the gunfire in the distance,_ "Swing wide! Steer-clear!"_

Kagome was about to say the same thing before she caught the red-headed speedster climb over a log and going towards the sound. But, there was no way he would do tha...

Kid Flash searched the forest in front of him, worried for Robin he chose to go look for him, "Yeah, yeah. Just as soon as I find Rob."

"Wait...!" Before Kagome could stop him he sped off into the dark. Sighing under her breath, she turned to the remaining two teenagers. "We should go after him before he..."

A loud shout from Kid Flash made everyone turn their heads. Kagome turned her ears towards the direction where Kid had gone, hearing sounds of sloshing, tumbling and eventually a loud splat where he had landed. At that same moment, the gun fire had ceased, leaving Kagome with a bad feeling.

"Damn that _baka_!" Quickly signaling for the others to follow her, she sped through the forest. Following the speedster's scent, she stopped at the edge of a small clearing where she spotted Kid Flash about to be shot by a man wearing a black and white mask.

Kid Flash had thought that with his speed, he would have found Robin in no time flat. It would have gone that way, but thanks to some unforeseen mud and roots, he tripped over himself, tumbling down the side of the hill he had been searching. After he had rolled to the bottom, he was sitting in a pile of mud between the two groups armed with high-powered rifles.

One of the people he recognized as Bane, head of the Venom operation as well as a frequent user of the neo-steroid. Both groups had their guns pointed right at him. "So much for being stealthy."

His joke didn't help elevate his fears though, as he stared down the barrel of Bane's rifle. Having no time to run away, he tried to shield himself when a flash of white raced past his eyes. A hand wrapped around the front of his uniform, and before he knew what was going on, he was thrown into the air.

Kagome saw a large Hispanic guy aim his rifle at the speedster and, in a split second, she crossed the clearing, grabbed the speedster by his shirt and sent him flying out of the clearing.

Soon, the bullets were aimed at her instead.

Dodging from left to right, Kagome managed to keep herself whole. The sound of bullets firing had her ears shrink down into her skull, too sensitive to take the volume. Kagome brought her fingers together, letting them glow a bright yellow as she summoned her poison whip.

As her whip extended, she twirled around in a fast circle, never once getting dizzy, but slicing each bullet that came at her in half. When the firing stopped, she snapped her whip towards the nearest group of men, melting their weapons and sending them into the trees behind.

A moment later, Superboy had come into the clearing, taking down Bane and holding his arm twisted behind him. Bane, however, was a skilled fighter and had switched their positions while they were in mid-air. Superboy was now held face down in the dirt, his arm twisted and his wrist in danger of being broken.

Kagome saw this and, while dodging another stray bullet, had rushed over. She wrapped her hand around Bane's wrist, squeezing it until he let Superboy go, then lifted her leg and kicked the masked man into the tree behind him.

When he landed and didn't look like he was getting up, she extended her hand to the clone, helping him up.

He nodded his thanks and soon went to fight another thug that was armed with a knife.

Looking around to see how the others were faring, Kagome heard the sound of branches falling from above her. Glancing up, she saw Robin in a free-fall, landing in the middle of the clearing. As he landed he quickly took care of two red-hooded men, knocking them out with a quick kick to the head.

Robin had fallen from the trees right after the others had gotten themselves noticed. He didn't understand why they didn't just hide in the forest, like he did. When he was with Batman, he had always been able to understand what he needed to do, when to act and when to hide. He understood that this was a new team, but a team has to follow its leader. So why didn't anyone follow his example?

The whole misunderstanding ticked him off, "What is wrong with you guys, remember covert? Why didn't you follow my lead and vanish into the jungle?"

Kid Flash who had gotten himself out of the tree, was fighting against a couple of Bane's followers. Taking their weapons, he smashed the butt of the rifles into their faces, probably breaking their noses.

His friends exclamation had made him turn his head, angry at the Boy Wonder for getting mad that them when he didn't give them any warning. "That's what you were doing? Well, way to fill us in, we are not mind readers you know!"

Just then, two hooded men were thrown against the tree behind Kid Flash, making him turn around as Megan floated near the men. Realizing that Megan was technically a "mind-reader" he chuckled nervously, "Well, I'm not anyway."

Megan, who had heard everything, touched down on the ground near Kid Flash. "You told me I can only read the bad guy's minds."

Robin shook his head slightly at the two. While they were talking, he caught the movement of the last hooded member trying to escape. Batarang ready, the Boy Wonder almost let it fly when Kaldur dropped down in front of the man. Placing a hand on the hooded man's chest, he let his tattoo's light up, electrocuting him.

As the last man fell to the ground unconscious, Kaldur smashed the man's hand-gun with his foot. Looking up, he suggested that they should tie both groups up before they wake again.

* * *

Kagome had just finished tying up the last red-hooded man to a tree next to his other comrades when she heard the Bird talk, saying how he knew what group the men belonged to, "I recognize those uniforms, they belong to the Cult of the Kobra."

Kaldur's eyes narrowed at that. He knew quite a bit about these people. That they were a group of well-trained arsonists and their leader was a man named Kobra, "I am certain Batman would have mentioned if he knew that a dangerous extremist was running Santa Prisca's Venom operation."

Robin nodded, "Agreed, and since there is clearly no love-loss between the Cultist's and those goons, I'm betting that Kobra came in and tossed them out. That's why normal supply lines have been cut off."

Kid Flash groaned lightly at his friend's enthusiasm. Personally, he was wondering why they hadn't reported this to Batman yet and are not on a safe, early flight home, "We get it, Kobra wanted super-cultist's, mystery solved. Radio Bats and we'll be home in time for..."

"These cultist's aren't on Venom," Robin interrupted, "their hording this stuff! We don't leave. Not until I know why."

Kid Flash's eyebrow's narrowed behind his mask, surprised at how bossy Robin had gotten throughout the night, "Until you know why?"

"This team needs a leader!"

Kid Flash scoffed at the shorter boy, "And its you? Dude, you're a thirteen year old kid, who ducked out on us without a word!"

Robin retaliated with a chuckled, "Haha, and you're a mature fifteen? You blew our cover first chance you got!"

Kagome, who had been standing off to the side, watched the two teens bicker with one another. They were in each others face spouting out reasons why each other was under qualified to lead the team. To her, neither of them had what it took to lead the team. But, she had already desided to not get involved with the "chosing of the leader" competition. They would have to sort it out for themselves.

Turning away from the two teens she made her way towards an unoccupied tree. There, she leaned back against its trunk, her ears flicking between the different conversations around her. Other than the two bickering idiots, she caught Megan-san asking Superboy whether he would want to lead the team.

Sneaking a peek at the two teens, she saw the clone shake his head, obviously not wanting to bother with such a position.

Superboy then looked at Megan, asking her the same question. The green-skinned girl denied the option as well, her voice shaking a bit as she explained, "After the Mr. Twister fiasco? I'm not so sure that I'll make a good leader. Besides, I still have much to learn about here on Earth."

Superboy smiled slightly at the alien's response. "You did alright."

He didn't think that she was all that bad after their first battle. In fact, after Kagome had given them direction, Megan's abilities were amazing. He glanced at the dog-eared girl out of the corner of his eye, seeing her turn her head away from them.

Finding her behavior strange, he continued watching her. Her golden eyes stared at Robin and Kid Flash as they argued back and forth. Aqua Lad had recently stepped forward in hope to try to break them out of the argument, but had no such luck.

Kagome looked away when she saw the alien girl blush prettily at the compliment causing her to nervously toy with the ends of her hair. Giving the two their privacy, she turned back to the loud ranting of the two youngest idiots.

Superboy was strangely fixated on her when a sudden breeze lifted a few silver strands that hung around her face, tossing them out-of-place. The girl's hand lifted to brush the strands away from her eyes, traveling up her forehead and over the two triangular ears on her head. They responded by flattening against her scalp as her hand skimmed over them, curving around her jaw and finally resting against her exposed neck.

Her ears perked up once again, twitching in a way that made him grin. It was then that he realized that he was staring at her. Looking away, he tried to find out why he zoned out when he was watching her. When he couldn't find an answer, he tensed up, crossed his arms and brooded. It was then that he picked up whispering from the men that were tied up behind them.

They were talking in another language, Spanish maybe. Closing his eyes, he somehow knew what it was they were saying. Probably thanks to his geno-morph's education, but he guessed that it was something that came in useful in times like this.

Oblivious to Superboy's stares, Kagome began to think that joining this team had been a decision she would soon regret.

A few more minutes of bickering and the two sidekicks were grating on her nerves. Rubbing her forehead, she could feel the beginning of a headache forming that was going to put her in a foul mood. Towards her left, she saw Kaldur place a hand to his head as well. He had tried to bring his friends back to the matter at hand, but...

Sighing, the Atlantean only managed to make things worse. When his attempt to rationally reason with his friends failed to work he e detached himself from the two, waiting for one of them to come to their senses. Although, it didn't look as if that result was coming quickly enough.

"Oh yeah? You don't even have super-powers!"

"Neither does Batman!"

"Che~, you are not Batman!"

"Che~~, closest thing we've got!"

Kagome growled lowly as she pushed off the tree she was leaning on and headed straight for the two sidekicks. The headache she was sporting told her that this has gone on long enough. The others watched her as she stalked towards the duo, cracking her knuckles loudly, since she knew that they were more focused on yelling at each other.

Sometimes, brute force was what people needed to get them back on track.

"Will you two..." Kagome said sweetly, a dark aura surrounding her as she loomed over them, "SHUT THE **FUCK** UP!" she yelled, before she slammed her fists down on their heads, sending a few birds flying out of the trees surrounding them.

The impact caused the two former sidekicks to lose their balance, falling to their knees while their hands went up to clutch the top of their heads in pain.

"Ow-ow-ow-ow!" Kid Flash shouted in pain as he rolled around on the ground. His eyes watered and his hands covered the top of his head where a rather large bump was forming.

Robin had a bit more dignity, choosing to hiss under his breath as he lowered his head between his knees. Forehead on the ground, he too had a lump forming in the middle of his head. After a few moments, the two wobbled a bit as they stood up from the ground, rubbing their sore heads.

Off to the side, Superboy quietly snickered at the Boy Wonder, finding it funny that he got the same treatment he did but to a larger degree.

Kagome huffed in anger, crossing her arms in front of her chest, looking like a mother scolding her children, "Let me remind you two that you are on a mission! Start focusing on what needs to be done instead of wasting time. The longer we stay here the less time we have to gather information on the factory."

She was slightly proud of the results of her handy work when she saw Kid Flash and Robin shaking involuntarily on the ground. Good, she thought, they should be afraid. She made a mental note to remind her that Superboy, Kid and Robin all responded well to smacks to the head.

Catching the masked-boy's attention, she continued, "Bird-boy, you said that these Kobra cultists's must have taken over the islands distribution of Venom, correct?"

Robin stood from his crouched position along with Kid, a light splash of red covered both their cheeks. He couldn't believe that he had forgotten about the mission. While Kid was partly at fault, it was also his error as leader to argue with a teammate on a mission. Anger and embarrassment flooded his senses as he gave his head one last rub before turning to Kagome.

The boy nodded while still rubbing his head, "Yeah...I'm positive that the cultist's have something else in store for Venom, something dangerous. Which is why we should find out what it is and stop it."

A chuckle from behind her caused everyone to fall silent. Bane was laughing, "He he, such clever ninos, but you only know half the story. Let me show you the rest, get you into the factory via my secret entrance."

Kagome recognized the man as the same human who had aimed a rifle at her and Wally. Taking in his profile, she noticed that he wore a sleeveless black muscle shirt that was tucked into a pair of brown cargo pants. He wore a pair of fingerless gloves and a black-white Lucha Libre mask that showed his coal dark eyes.

Everyone gathered around in front of Bane, not trusting his word, Kagome turned to Megan. "Miss. Martian-san, see if he is telling the truth. Is there a secret entrance into the factory?"

The Martian kneeled in front of the masked man, hand at her temple, she searched for the answer, "There is a secret entrance, but he's also hiding something." The green-girl's eyes glowed white, intending to dig deeper.

"Ah ah, chica. Bane is not that easy."

A moment later, Megan let out an annoyed sound, "Arrgh, he's mentally reciting football scores in espanol! This could take a while."

"It's not that complicated." Bane said, but the look in his eyes said otherwise, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."

Everyone was silently wondering if they could trust Bane to not double-cross them. Kaldur turned to the group, "As of now, we don't have any way to get into the factory without being caught. And since the Cult will be expecting their troop back, we don't have a lot of time to think of a plan."

The Atlantean turned to Bane, looking him in the eye, "We will untie you, but only you. And you will lead us to the secret entrance, but no tricks."

When Bane nodded, Kagome's eyes narrowed, not trusting him for a minute. While Robin was busy untying Bane's restraints, Kagome walked up to the silver-eyed boy and pulled him to the side.

"Kaldur-san, I don't trust that man." When she received a look that told her to explain, she groaned. Tapping the side of her nose, she elaborated, "His word's reek of lies."

Catching on, Kaldur turned to whisper to her, "I don't trust him either, but we need to get in the factory. The both of us will keep an eye on him, and if he does anything suspicious, we'll take him out."

When Aqua lad received a nod, he turned back to the group, wondering if they were in over their heads.

* * *

Bane had led them for a few miles towards the factory, bringing them to a hill that overlooked its helicopter landing space. There Robin bent down and took out his high-powered binoculars. Looking down on the landing site, he saw that there were many crates being placed to the side, "Look at all that product. A buy is going down, but if Kobra isn't selling to the usual suspects..."

Kaldur nodded at the implication, "We need to identify that buyer."

Kid Flash brought his goggles off his eyes then, a serious look on his face, "Just what I was thinking."

Robin scoffed, "Yeah, you're the thinker."

"Sarcasm? Dude, a real leader would focus on getting answers."

The sound of knuckles cracking to the side silenced the both of them. Looking nervously towards Kagome, they decided to place some distance between them and the girl, who looked ready to knock them over the head again.

The sound of something heavy hitting the ground drew their attention towards Bane. A large boulder had been lifted out-of-the-way to show a secret tunnel, as Bane pointed down the tunnel, "Answers are this way."

Pushing past the man, Kagome took a look in the tunnel, sniffing first to make sure that the tunnel was empty in case of an ambush. When she determined it was safe, she let the others in.

Before long, they were all inside and surrounded by nothing but hard rock and soil. The tunnel was lit with lamps that lined the sides of the wall. They walked for a while until they got to a dead end.

On one side, there was an electric door where Bane opened with a push of a button. The locks on opened and the door swung open to show the inside of the factory. Robin crouched down in front of the door, searching the floor to see if any Cobra cultist's were lurking about.

"All clear."

And suddenly he was through the door, leaving the others behind. The factory's interior held large iron tubs that Kagome guessed either stored or made the Venom steroid. There weren't any guards though, which set her on alert. Taking in the scent of the room she found that it was empty except for them.

It was all very strange. The silence was broken by Bane, his deeply accented voice laced with displeasure, "Has that little fool already been caught?"

After risking so much getting them into the factory, he was not about to let one little whelp ruin his chance to take back his factory.

Aqua lad groaned, "No, he just does that..."

Suddenly, Kid Flash pulled down his goggles, a signal to Kagome that he was about to speed off somewhere, "Stay put, I'll get our Intel and be back before the Boy Wonder."

Before he could even take a step, Kagome snagged the back of his collar, "Don't go off on your own twice in one night, _baka_."

When it looked like he was going to protest, she pointed to the upper level, "Look up there."

He followed her pointed finger up to where Robin was climbing silently up a ladder. Looking to where he was going, the speedster made out what looked like a control center where information on why Cobra was here on the island was probably kept.

When Kid Flash felt his collar being released he half-turned to Kagome, "Go cover for that Bird and help him get whatever it is we need that explains what this place has planned. After you two get the information, contact us or find us. Understood?"

She was talking to them like children, but Flash didn't seem to care or maybe didn't notice. Flashing his trade-mark smile, Kid Flash chuckled at the shorter girl, "Sure thing, I'll go and help Rob."

In a blur of red and black, he was gone.

Kaldur nodded to the others and Bane, signaling him to show them the way to where the buy was going to take place. As it turned out, the factory had a lot of places to hide, iron staircases and over hangers that were unguarded, so it would not be likely that they would be found out.

Slipping past the couple of guards that were loading what seemed to be Venom formula onto the loading platform; they ducked behind a pile of crates. Megan and Superboy were crouched down low behind some of the crates, while she, Bane and Kaldur stood off to the side. Once behind the crates, Kagome looked around to see if anyone had a view of them. Seeing that there was no one around, she pulled her mask down just enough to free her nose.

She took in a long breath, letting her senses test everything that was around her.

Aqua Lad looked over his shoulder past the crates, watching as the Kobra cultist's loaded at least a dozen crates of Venom onto the loading platform. He was so focused on watching them that he almost didn't hear the short gasping sound that came from behind him.

When the sound registered as if someone was coughing, he turned around to see Kagome with her hand over her nose and eyes, watering just like when Batman had sprayed that drug in her face the night they met at Cadmus. Worried that she might collapse like she did back then, he shot out his hands to her shoulders, steadying her.

"Kagome, are you alright?" Kaldur asked worriedly.

Kagome coughed a few more times into her hand, before answering, "I'm fine. The smell of that drug just caught me off guard."

Bane chuckled darkly behind his Lucha Libre mask and proudly patted his hand on one of the crates in front of him. "That's right Niña, don't go fainting now. The stuff that I use to make my Venom makes this product extremely toxic as a gas. I'm guessing you must have a sensitive sense for quality, huh chica?"

Her golden-eyes cut through Bane, looking to where his hand was patting the crate before snickering, "If what is in that crate is your Venom steroid, then you don't have to worry about me fainting. What I smelt was what was in the crates that are being loaded by those cultist's. There is something different than Venom in those crates."

Looking back at the Kobra cultist's, he said quietly "If the Cult plans to sell something different than Venom, why did they overtake the factory? Unless,…Cobra had used the Venom formula to make what is in those crates."

Megan and Superboy nodded in agreement. It made sense of why the Cult even bothered to step foot on Santa Prisca, but what were they gaining from this endeavor? Who were they working for, that they would take such steps to formulate a new product?

As Kaldur was thinking this, he heard Superboy whisper that a helicopter was coming. "If we stay so close to the drop-off we run the risk of being spotted. We have to get somewhere more secure."

Following the Atlantean's direction, they crept close to the end of the factory when everyone stopped dead in their tracks. A group of three hooded cultist's, armed with automatic rifles, were walking towards them. Kagome was about to attack when she felt her body become light and her feet leave the ground. It was the strangest sensation she had ever felt and almost felt compelled to squeak in surprise.

Thankfully she didn't and instead looked around her to see that everyone else was also being lifted into the air. They floated for a while before Megan deposited them on a high-rise walkway that connected the upper levels.

"Miss Martian," Kaldur addressed in a serious tone, "Go back to where the drop will take place. Send me back a mental image of the buyer when he or she comes to collect the product."

* * *

It had taken Kid Flash less than ten minutes to beat up and hog-tie a group of five Kobra followers before speeding up the stairs to the control center he saw Robin glide into. He was not surprised to see that the younger boy was already hacking through dozens of project files on one of the computers.

Ignoring the red-hooded cultist that was passed out at Robin's feet, he asked casually, "So, What cha' got?"

The Boy Wonder skimmed through each file that popped up on the screen. Trying to tune out the distracting crunching sound of Kid Flash eating a candy bar, he focused on one file particularly. It contained lab work and experimental processes that were somewhat difficult to understand if you weren't a chemical genius.

Robin leaned in closer, clicking a sub-link off to the side of the file, "Chemical formulas...I'm guessing it involves Venom, but..."

Now, Robin didn't want to admit that Kid Flash was better than him, but when faced with chemistry and science, he had no choice but to do just that. Despite his goofy and childish antics, he knew that the speedster had one of the most inquisitive minds when science was involved.

Turning to his friend, Robin silently asked for his help in understanding what the different formula's meant.

Still munching on his candy bar, Kid Flash pointed to one of two graphs that came up on the screen, "That one's Venom...and that one's..."

The graphs changes, combining into one perfectly compatible substance, "Whoa, it's the Blockbuster formula from Cadmus. Mixed correctly, Kobra's new juice is three times stronger than Venom and permanent. But how did Kobra get access to Project Blockbuster?"

Robin's eye's widened at the discovery, "Our mystery buyer must also be Kobra's supplier! Using the Cult to create a Blockbuster-Venom super formula!"

Putting his hand to the shell of his ear, he tried to contact Kaldur, "Robin to Aqua lad, we've got..." Nothing but a scratching sound of interference was transmitted by the ear-com as he growled out loud. He had to get this information to Kaldur, and soon.

* * *

Megan had left her friends a while ago, fazed almost completely invisible, she levitated just above Kobra, the leader of the Cult, and his forces. He was tall and had intensely pale, grayish skin, which contrasted greatly with his red eyes. He also wore a pair of black pants and a red cape, it's hood shaped like a snake with fangs and orange orbs.

There was also a girl who stood next to him with fiery orange hair parted to her left side, and she was holding a steel briefcase. Something that she knew would be suspicious, if what all those television shows on undercover spy's was anything to go off of.

A moment later, the wind turned choppy and circled around her as the helicopter Superboy had heard earlier landed in the middle of the clearing. As its propellers slowed down, the large side door opened to reveal a man with short blond hair, wearing something akin to a hockey mask over his face.

His clothes consisted of a clinging dark purple muscle shirt, black pants that contained many pockets and army boots. The man wore a belt that was similar to Batman's and Robin's utility belts and his left bicep and forearm was also protected with a light looking armor.

Megan watched closely as the man, now identified as the buyer, made his way down the row of Kobra followers towards Kobra himself. The men greeted each other before cutting straight to business.

"SportsMaster, the shipment is ready." Lord Kobra motioned for the girl next to him to come forth. As she opened the briefcase, the blond man picked one of the tubes at random, inspecting the purple solution.

Sports master eyed the new formula, twisting the tube in-between his fingers, "The new Kobra-Vemon?"

The pale Lord nodded, gesturing to the monster behind him, "A complete success. Our friends will not be disappointed."

SportsMaster grinned behind his mask, flipping the tube into the air before catching it again in his palm, "This is a game changer. Finally, we can go mano-a-mano with the Justice League."

A clear filmed silhouette of Megan hovered over the two men, thinking that she had seen enough she placed her fingertips to her temples. Connecting her mind to Kaldur's, she let her eyes glow white as she fed him a visual image of the seller and the buyer.

_Aqua Lad, I'm sending you a telepathic of the buyer now._

Inside the factory, the three members of the team and Bane waited for Miss Martian's signal. Kaldur closed his eyes as his mind connected to the Martian's, looking through her eyes he saw…"SportsMaster, he is the buyer?"

A worried look overcame Kaldur's features as he pressed a finger to his com, "Aqua Lad to Red Tornado, do you read?"

When all he could hear was static, he sighed in frustration, "Urgh, I can't reach Red Tornado, Robin or Kid, the com is jammed."

Kagome rolled her eyes as she began digging into her sash for the ear-com. "Thought so,..." She rested it between her thumb and pointer finger before squashing it as if it were a bug. "These things are useless."

Ignoring Kagome's remark, Aqua Lad turned back and forth between her and Superboy, "We need a plan."

Bane smirked, his eyes looking over the edge of the over hanger they were on before he muttered, "I have a suggestion."

Without warning, the two hundred pound Luch Libre leapt over the metal bars of the over hanger, plummeting down to the ground level. In mid-air, Bane let out a roar that attracted the attention of two Kobra squads that was walking by. Bane landed on one of them, throwing punches at the cultists as one of them began to shoot bullets.

"What is he...!" Kaldur was interrupted when the sound of glass shattering came from behind them. Twisting around, he was able to make out what he could only describe as a green super-human beast as it crushed the space between him and Superboy, making the platform collapse and bringing them all to the ground level.

The green monster let out an animalistic roar as it landed in front of them.

When Kagome landed on the ground the first person, or thing, she saw was pitiful. The green monster's skin was torn in places, showing layers of muscles and ligaments. What skin it did have was bumpy and looked like mold had grown over it. In contrast to its fiery orange hair, the monster's skin was green like a toad.

She narrowed her eyes as she took in its scent. It was similar to the scent she had picked up from that psychotic scientist back at that underground laboratory, a mix of human and chemicals. She shifted her head to the side when the hanger room presented even more people, all of them human.

The tall, pale human wearing a snake-hooded cape was especially surprised to see them, shouting in rage, "Mammoth, destroy them!"

When the large green human-monster charged at them, Kagome was not surprised to see that Superboy had taken the initiative and charged head-on into a fist fight with the skin-torn Mammoth. While that was going on, bullets sped towards both her and Aqua Lad.

Aqua Lad had taken out his water-bearer's, creating a shield from the water he carried in his pack. Crouching down he used one to hold the shield while the other shot out, what looked like water bullets, taking out a few cultists.

Kagome used her speed and managed to avoid a few of the bullets, but reinforcements had arrived and made it more difficult. A green whip of energy strained from her fingers, slicing through the bullets.

Looking around her, she saw Superboy getting the shit beat out of him by Mammoth. The clone was on his hands and knees with Mammoth posing with both hands knitted together over his monstrous head, ready to bury him into the ground.

Whipping her hand towards Mammoth, her poison whip wrapped around the mutated human's upheld wrists. Yanking backwards, her pure strength lifted Mammoth off his feet and sent his body crashing to the floor, giving Superboy time to get up.

"I can handle this! Stop interfering!" Superboy roared towards her, obviously mad at the interruption.

Kagome merely shrugged and released her hold on Mammoth, her poison whip retracting back into her claws. "Fine. Have fun getting your face rearranged."

She smirked when she heard Mammoth charged Superboy through a steel pillar, thinking that the clone would learn the essence of "teamwork" when he was ready.

While this was happening, Kagome's senses picked up Megan's scent floating around above them. Not a moment later, a bunch of cultists that were firing at them were picked up into the air and thrown against the walls.

But Megan's presence was oddly noticed by SportsMaster, who withdrew a spear-like weapon from one of his pant pockets and threw it into the air.

Knowing that Megan was in its path, Kagome shouted out a warning, "Miss Martian, be careful!" Kagome watched its path before it unexpectedly detonated, sending a visible Martian crashing onto one of the factories large steel barrels.

Momentarily distracted, she hadn't realized that she had left herself open when a red-hooded cult member took aim and shot at her.

"Kagome, look out!"

It was too late though, as bullets bombarded her body. Reflexively, she raised her arms to protect her face as the red lazer-bullets pummeling her like rain, forcing her back a few steps. They didn't pierce her skin, but it still hurt like hell. It was like she had pissed off a bee hive and was being attacked by the entire colony.

While protecting her face, Kagome hadn't noticed that the Atlantean had been beside her until she felt his hand around her arm, pulling her towards him. She didn't feel the bullets anymore when her side collided with his chest, his arm encircling her in a protective gesture.

Worry etched across Aqua Lad's face, "Are you alright?"

Kagome nodded, looking down at her cape that now had a bunch of holes in it. "Yes, I'm fine. Fuck, that hurt like hell...Arigato."

Kaldur grinned slightly. He suspected that what she was expressing her thanks, but since he was not familiar with the Japanese language he had no way of knowing for sure. A bullet knocked off the side of his water-sheild, bringing both their attentions back to their situation.

With the shield being only so big, Kaldur had no choice but to clutch Kagome closer to his chest so that they could both be somewhat protected. Kagome tried to turn towards the Atlantean to give him more room when she saw an armed red-hooded man positioned on the upper level taking aim.

On impulse, Kagome quickly turned in Aqua Lad's hold, with her hand extended across his body, she created a large pinkish barrier to deflecting the bullets that were being shot at them. Bringing up her other hand, she let her claws drip with poison before she slashed out to the man, hitting him in the arm and making him drop his weapon, shouting in pain.

Kagome then retracted her poison whip into her claws, a few drops of poison dripping onto the floor. "You helped me, so I helped you. Now we are even."

With this new position though, instead of her shoulder pushed up against his chest, it was her front.

Finding their contact as nothing more than accidental due to the current situation, Kagome didn't think much about it. Instead, she distanced herself as much as she could, "We need to keep moving. There is a steel barrel a few steps behind us. We can take cover behind that."

Kaldur could only nod and look away, feeling his face burn with heat. It was a normal reaction that will pass on soon, he reasoned with himself. But, it only worsened when he felt Kagome take a step back, accidentally brushing her softness against his chest.

He tried to keep the distance between them constant as they moved to safety, but the situation made that difficult to maintain. With each step back a part of her body would skim against his. He would feel the brush of her leg or the sway of her hip when she moved, or worse...her chest.

He knew that it wasn't Kagome's fault, though. She had only been trying to protect him from getting hurt. He tried to focus on their situation, but even with the Cult firing at them from every direction he couldn't concentrate. Shaking his head roughly, he willed his mind to return to normality. When it didn't work, he tried to think about something else, or rather, someone else. Tula...

A small breath of relief left him as his thoughts centered around his crush. It was completely unlike him to be using his love as a distraction, especially while he was under fire by the enemy, but it worked. His mind became calm again as he allowed memories of the girl he had admired and loved since childhood to flood his mind. It was then that he felt his body temperature drop and the heat from his face begin to disapate.

He blindly followed Kagome around the side of the metal container. Once there Kaldur released her before retracting his magic water-bearer's and placing the water back into the pack on his back.

He took a deep breath in and expelled it, along with the remainer of his emotional tension.

Without another thought, Kaldur told her to scan for any openings they could use to get back to the tunnel. As they were looking two cultists came around the corner with their guns aimed straight at them. About to fire, they were taken out by Kid Flash who had sped to the scene out of nowhere.

Flashing a smile, the speedster ran behind am iron pillar when a bunch of cultists began to shoot from the upper story.

Realizing that they would have to retreat and regroup in the tunnel, Aqua Lad yelled out for Miss Martian to link them up telepathically. A moment later, a strange sensation ran over all the Earth teens as Megan made the telepathic connection_, "Everyone online?"_

Superboy gave a gruff response, not at all happy with having another person inside his mind. It only got better when he heard Kid start flirting with Megan inside his head, calling her "beautiful". He felt like tearing off his head, but then again, his head was already getting pummeled on by the large green Mammoth he was still fighting.

_"Good, we need to regroup."_ Aqua Lad said urgently when he heard a reply from Robin saying that he was "busy". Sighing roughly, Kaldur conjured up his water-whip and began fending off some of the cultists.

_"Aqua Lad, you will have to guide Kagome. Since her powers block my telepathy I can't link her up with the rest of us."_

A wave bewilderment struck Kaldur as he turned to face the golden-eyed girl. He wanted to ask her what was going on when another group of cultists had turned around the corner of the tank they were hiding behind. Taking hold of his water-bearer's, he used his Atlantic sorcery to create a whip of water. Sending it to collide with the hooded Kobra worshiper's he focused on getting the team out of harm's way and fast.

Shouting in his mind he ordered for Robin to join them at the tunnel.

* * *

Robin had just leapt off from the top of the helicopter's left wing when he felt a familiar chill run through his system. Grinning like a Chester cat, the boy turned to meet Kobra and his hench-girl, Shimmer.

Kobra looked, for a lack of words, insulted at the sight of him. "Batman must be desperate, if he sends his whelp to task me."

It only made Robin's smile widen, knowing how his presence was making the pesudo-god more pissed off by the second, "What's wrong Koby? You look disconcerted."

Kobra only scoffed at the Boy Wonder, "This is beneath me. Shimmer, take him."

The fiery-orange haired girl didn't hesitate. Following the order of her Lord, she charged the masked ex-sidekick with the intent to kill. Her timing was a bit off though, as Robin easily flipped over her.

It was when she was charging the second time when Robin heard Aqua Lad, _"Robin, NOW!"_

Hearing the "no argument allowed" tone in his voice, Robin grimaced before throwing a flash-pellet at his feet. Temporarily blinding his adversary with its light, he was able to make his escape back into the factory.

* * *

Back in the factory, everyone was still fighting against the cultists. Superboy was still battling it out with Mammoth, which had turned out to be much harder to beat than he thought.

Aqua Lad and Kagome used their whips to take down most of the cultist's that were firing at them.

_"We need to retreat, Kid clear a path."_

Kid Flash responded by literally 'running down' the armed cultists that were blocking their way to the tunnel.

Once inside the factory, Robin heard Aqua Lad tell the team to get back to the tunnel to regroup. Following the order, Robin grabbed one of the many grappeling guns from his utility belt to swing himself over the factory. Landing alongside Kid Flash, he bolted through the door leading to the tunnel with the team in tow.

Kagome stopped right outside the automatic door, looking back to see if anyone was missing. Low and behold, there was Superboy still punching it out with a now mutated Mammoth. He lifted Mammoth off his feet and sent him flying toward a group of Kobra cultist's.

When she saw that he was coming, Kagome disappeared through the door. A second later, Superboy followed and slammed the metal door shut. It didn't last though, for Mammoth had body slammed through the ten-inch steel door with ease.

"Superboy, Kagome! The support-beams!" Aqua Lad shouted.

Kagome nodded at the command, as she ran towards the nearest wooden beam she lifted her fist before she sent it flying. The beam splintered off into pieces as the ceiling almost immediately began to cave in. Once Superboy had done the same with the other side, there was a rumbling sound that filled the tunnel.

An avalanche of hardened soil and rocks befell them in an instant, a wall of earth separating the team from Kobra's followers and the factory.

* * *

In the tunnel, the team was surrounded by pitch black until it was alit with a red glow. Kagome saw that Kaldur had bent of his glow sticks in half letting the chemicals light the space around them so that they could see.

While they were all catching their breath, Kagome noticed that Bane had disappeared. Growling to herself, she realized that Bane had drawn attention to them on purpose in order to get away. Gnawing her lower lip, she cursed herself silently for letting the slimy rat get away. But, in the back of her mind she wondered if escape was all that the Hispanic drug-lord wanted out of it. Surely he wouldn't just abandon his factory, would he?

Her ears swiveled over to Robin who sighed loudly. He faced towards the now blocked pathway of the tunnel, "How could my first mission as leader go so wrong?"

Taking a step towards his friend, Aqua Lad spoke carefully, "You do have the most experience, but maybe that is what has left you unprepared. Fighting along side Batman your roles are defined, you two do not need to talk. But this team is new. And the leader must be clear, explicit; he cannot vanish and expect others to play part in an unknown plan."

"Oh, so I'm supposed to hold everyone's hand!" Robin shouted, turning to face the team with an angry look on his face. It ticked him off that his first mission wasn't going the way he wanted it to. He thought that being Batman's partner had given him some kind of abilty to lead the team, but...it didn't.

Sighing, Robin thought about what Kaldur had said. He thought through what had happened all throughout the corse of the mission, how things went along the way. He guessed Kaldur had a point. With Batman, things were much easier and he knew what to do without even talking. But, it had always been like that between them. Lowering his head a bit, he had to seriously consider what he wanted versus what the team needed.

A small disappointed smile crossed his lips, "Who am I kidding? You should lead us Kaldur, you're the only one who can."

Kagome's eyes softened, creeping past her usually stoic expression. The Bird-boy really expressed a level of maturity that she had thought impossible for him. The Bird truly surprised her tonight.

Kid Flash, however, scoffed at the idea, "Please, I can run circles..."

"Wally, come on." Robin interrupted, looking at the speedster, "You know he's the one, we all do."

Megan giggled softly before saying that Kaldur was the obvious choice for leader. Superboy simply nodded, giving his compliance to the choice. Kid Flash was silent for a moment before smiling at his friend, shrugging playfully before he agreed to accept Kaldur as their leader.

Looking at Robin, the Atlantean crossed over and laid a hand on his shoulder, "Then I will accept the burden, until you are ready to lift it from my shoulders. You were born to lead this team, maybe not now, but soon."

Robin nodded, satisfied with the answer he was given and the path he chose for himself. He would be the next Batman. And when he does, he would make his parents, both parents, proud of him.

At that, Kaldur turned and addressed the team, "Alright, our first priority is to prevent that shipment from leaving the island."

"Funny, I had the same thought, which is why I broke one of the propellers on their helicopter before we left."

Aqua Lad nodded, "Good, then we have time to stop them. How long would you guess it will take for them to get the propeller working again?"

Robin scratched his head, thinking about how to answer, "I would have given it an hour to forty-five minutes if they didn't have Shimmer. But since she's there, I'm guessing we have about twenty-five minutes tops."

"Well, then " Kagome said, causing everyone to look at her, "We shouldn't waste too much time here."

Everyone nodded and started to run down the tunnel again, but this time Kaldur was leading the way. Along the way, Robin had pulled up his watch-computer and searched through his information on both Kobra and SportsMaster.

Frowning at his findings, Robin said out loud, "SportsMaster's the supplier/buyer, but it still doesn't track. He doesn't have the juice to acquire the Blockbuster formula or to have Cobra do his dirty work."

Kid concurred, running along side Robin, he added, "And neither of them have the chops to bond Blockbuster with Venom, that took some major nerd-age."

They were getting towards the other side of the tunnel when Kagome suddenly reduced her speed. "Wait. Something isn't right..."

They were near the entrance now when Kaldur turned to her, still running he asked, "What is it, Kagome?"

Pulling down her mask, she closed her eyes and let her senses run free. There was no mistake, something in the air was making the hair on her neck stand on end. Breathing in through her nose she sorted through all of the different scents around her when she found it, eyes shot open.

Narrowing her eyes, Kagome growled, "...I smell explosives."

Her warning came too late as they reached the edge of the tunnel. Bane stood at the entrance, dropping a few hand grenades in front of them, a detonator in his left hand. "Hault ninos."

Above them, there were at least three small bombs that were strong enough to bring the whole tunnel ceiling down on on them.

"You betrayed us, why?" Kaldur asked, acting as if he were actually surprised that they were double crossed by the drug-dealing mob leader. His diversion acted well though, getting the drug lord monologing about how he wanted his factory back from Kobra. During this time, Kaldur had used Miss Martian's telepathic connection to send a message to Kid to get ready to snatch the trigger from Bane.

Kagome was only half listening to the masked Hispanic man say how he "tricked" them into either reclaiming his factory for him or if they died, the Justice League would have come to avenge their deaths. Judging by this man's underhanded tactics, she wouldn't put him above selling his own mother at an underground black market.

As he was getting towards the end of his speech and was about to pull the trigger, Kagome saw out of the corner of her eye that Kid Flash had taken a few steps back. His knees bent a little bit and withing a blink, he was gone. Looking back to Bane, she saw that his left hand was now empty and that Kid was leaning against the tree behind him, the trigger tossed lazily in his hand.

"Now what were you going to blow up up with, this trigger-thingy?"

Bane turned swiftly on his heel, his fist raised and ready to punch the speedster before he was lifted up in the air. Miss Martian had the drug lord suspended in mid-air above the team as Superboy came to stand right under Bane.

Superboy let a rare smile show on his face, "Finally...drop em'."

Megan did as he wanted, lowering her hand she let Bane fall right in front of Superboy.

Kagome smirked a bit, finding the clones way of dealing with the man both justified and humorous. Especially when Superboy knocked the domino masked man unconscious with one good sock to the chin.

* * *

Back at the factory's landing site SportsMaster and Kobra were standing by the helicopter, waiting for the Kobra's followers to fix the contraption. They had stood for about thirty minutes when a cult member stepped out of the aircraft, wiping his hands off on a towel as he approached the two villans. The two rotor blades swiped at the air, operational and ready for departure.

The man bowed low to his leader, Kobra, and said, "The helicopters operational exalted one."

Not sparing the man a glance, SportsMaster made his way past him towards the double-rotored helicopter. He passed down the middle of a long row of cult members before a blur of red and black whizzed by in front of him, sending four cult members into the air.

Not a second later, Kobra's men began to fire at the blur that could only be Kid Flash. Sensing the possible danger to their plan, Kobra shouted at SportsMaster to take the shipment.

The hockey-masked man tried to make a break for the helicopter. That is, until Superboy landed in front of him out of no where, creating a small hole where he landed and knocking a couple cultists off their feet.

A smug grin split across the clone's lips as he taunted the mutated Mammoth, "Go again?"

The green mutant roared at Superboy, leaping to collide with him like they did before, he was suddenly hit with a heavy stream of water. Superboy's grin grew into a full blown smile, "Sorry, not the plan."

Seeing as his green adversary was taken care of, Superboy turned his attention to the helicopter. Raising his fist, he was about to demolish the aircraft when he was shot in the back. SportsMaster had somehow gotten his hands on a techy-looking rifle, aiming directly at Superboy, he fired continuously at him.

Behind the hockey-masked man, an invisible Miss Martian was hovering just outside of the helicopters back hangar door. As if the blond villain had some kind of sixth-sense, he flipped into the air and dodged Megan when she tried to attack. He then was able to determine where she was and knocked the alien girl to the ground.

Miss Martian was just getting up when SportsMaster grabbed her by the collar of her cape and held her in a one armed choke-hold. Keeping her close to him, SportsMaster never lost his weapon and fired at Superboy once again.

Across the field, Kid Flash was busy getting rid of the cultists and their weapons, stopping for a second to pluck a cultists mask right off his nose while exclaiming, "Souvienier!"

With Robin, he managed to tie up Kobra's lackey, Shimmer, and face the pesudo-god. He grinned at Kobra, saying in an amused voice, "I know you hate getting your hands dirty."

Kobra merely stared at the boy, finding him truly not worth his time or effort, "True." However, his actions contradicted his words as he discarded his red cobra-hooded cape, "But sometimes, even a God must stoop to conquer."

Robin ran swiftly towards Kobra, jumping up to knee him in the face, but was stopped by the pesudo-god's hand. As he dropped down to the ground, Robin tried to sweep Kobra off his balance by taking out his left foot. He was angry when Kobra saw that coming too and had lifted his foot. Trying once more, he leapt into the air and tried kicking Kobra in the face only for his ankle to be caught in the man's hand.

The Boy Wonder let out a grunt of pain as the Cult leader's foot came into contact with his abdomen, sending him into the air as he landed a few meter's back. He lifted his head, letting out a frustrated sound. He hadn't been able to make this guy take even one step back.

Kobra looked at the boy with disinterest, "What's wrong boy? Are you not concerted?...Argh!"

In a flash, Kobra's body had been sent across the field, skidding on the ground for a moment before managing to find his feet before he stopped. Two very surprised humans looked to see a masked girl with amber eyes right where Kobra used to be.

Flicking a strand of hair out of her face, Kagome sighed, "Listen _ojisan_, I can only bear one idiot trying to make new literary back-formations. Any more and I'll never be able to get rid of my headaches. Now, why don't you give the boy a break and try taking me on, ne~?"

Kobra narrowed his red eyes at the new adversary. "Very well. It matters not whom I fight. Just make this worth my while." This girl must have been well trained for her to have caught him by surprise. He looked the girl over as he stood from the ground.

Robin, although not all that concerted about the interruption, he was still thankful for the help. Noticing that Kobra was distracted by her, Robin fished out a smoke pellet from his utility belt. Flipping into the air, he tossed the pellet toward Kobra's feet. The pellet shattered, sending a cloud of smoke through the earth and rubble up into the air.

He entered the cloud, aiming for where Kobra should have been only to hit air. He searched around him but found nothing. His eyebrows furrowed as he wondered where Kobra disappeared to. As the smoke began to clear, Robin caught the outline of two figures fighting, one holding a green whip of energy in her hand.

Across from them, Aqua Lad was still directing water at Mammoth, sending the mutant boy back further with each step. His tattoos were lit up and both water-bearer's were in hand as he put more force behind the water.

When he could no longer push the monster back he lifted his hand, shocks of lightning seemed to sprout from his fingertips before he skimmed them over the top of the rushing water. Sending an electric charge through it, frying Mammoth until the green mutant fell unconscious, smoke rising off of his body as he laid in the grass.

Seeing the odds of the battle turning, SportsMaster backed up till he was almost all the way inside the helicopter. "Thanks for the workout, but I've gotta fly." He then tossed Miss Martian at Superboy, before he ran inside to the cockpit, turning on the rotors and taking off into the air.

Megan and Superboy sat on the ground as the helicopter rose. The Martian girl grinned at Superboy before holding up her hand that held Bane's bomb detonator. Bringing her thumb down on the trigger button she looked up to see the back of the helicopter burst into flames.

Kagome's ears perked up at the explosion, trading off fighting with Kobra with Robin, she looked up into the sky where she saw the aircraft falling out of the sky. It swerved a bit, as if the pilot tried to stabilize it. Out of the left side, she caught sight of the hockey-masked man jumping out of the helicopter, a parachute deploying a moment later.

The destroyed helicopter was now on a collision course with the factory. It got closer and closer, until...

**Boom!**

The illegal factory of Santa Prisca was transformed into a raging inferno. Kagome smiled widely behind her mask, thinking wonderfully that Bane was watching in horror and anger as his precious factory went up in flames. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard a grunt come from Robin, his back on the ground with Kobra's foot in the middle of his chest.

The pale-faced man had slashes over his chest and legs from where Kagome had striked him with her poison whip. Blood was still oozing out of some of the more deeper wounds, but none were fatal. Kagome had made sure of that. He also sported a few bruises on his forearms and one on his right cheek.

The pesudo-god kept his composure, but as he took in the sight of the burning factory his voice rang with rage, "I am plagued by mosquitoes!"

Robin's hands were on struggling to lift Kobra's foot off his chest, as he twisted on the ground trying to get loose, "Good! Because this mosquito's mighty concerted over your pain!"

A quick rounding-kick got him out from under Kobra's boot and he flipped over to land next to Kagome. They were soon joined by the rest of the team, making them look more intimidating to Kobra than he would admit.

He lowered his hands and backed away into the shadows behind him, "Another time then..."

Robin and Kagome went after him, looking through the brush to locate where the snake had gone. Kagome tried to find his scent, but was unsuccessful. It was like he had disappeared or transported away without a trace. Either way, Robin thought, they weren't going to find Kobra or SportsMaster tonight.

Turning back to the group, Robin smiled while walking towards Kaldur's side, "We picked the right guy to lead."

Kaldur was about to return the smile when his friend gained a mischievous look on his face, "Automatically making you the right guy to explain this mess to Batman."

The Atlantean blinked at that, wondering how he was going to survive explaining how the team had blown their covert mission, had teamed up with a known super-villian conartist and, in the process, had destroyed a major black-market factory. He sighed quietly, foreboding the ordeal that was awaiting them when they returned to the Cave.

The thirteen year old held his stomach as he walked off laughing before a stone flew through the air, hitting him in the back of the head. "Ow! Kagome! I know that was you!" Hissing, the Boy Wonder reached back to rub his head.

The masked-girl simply ignored the Bird, walking past him to where Miss Martian was standing. "Megan-san, before we depart, I have a favor to ask you."

The Martian-girl turned around, a questioning look on her face. "Sure, Kagome. What do you need?"

* * *

**Streets of Metropolis**

* * *

Kagome had been scaling rooftops for about ten minutes trying to retrace her steps from the first day she arrived on Earth. Following her nose, she bent her knees and leapt into the air again, landing on another store's rooftop. Her cape, though riddled with holes, hung around her form and shielded her from the nipping wind.

A few hours ago at Santa Prisca, she had asked Megan to drop her off in Metropolis before heading back to the Cave with the others. The team was exhausted and to tell the truth, she was also a bit tired. Though, it was more of a mental exhaustion since the only thing Wally-san could do was whine about getting back home to sleep. She sighed, rubbing her scalp as the remnants of her headache were starting to fade away.

Not wanting them to wait for her, she assured them that she would arrive back at the Cave the next morning. Some whining from Wally helped them leave quickly afterwards. Now here she was, in the middle of a thriving city searching for a hole in the wall restaurant.

Below her, she saw the busy buzzing of the city's nightlife. A beehive of humans walking past one another without a care in the world, no knowledge about the team of teenagers that risked their lives to insure their safety only hours prior. Thinking about the team and their sacrifices, she could only stare at the swarm of ignorant humans.

That ignorance, however, was both a blessing and a pity in her opinion. They could not have known, nor would they probably ever know, just how far their League of super human and alien protectors went to protect their happy way of life. In return for their ill-knowledge they would be able to continue living their semi-ordinary lives.

Leaning over the edge of the roof, she let her golden eyes scan the crowd. About to give up her search all together, she halted when she saw bright neo-pink writing in the distance.

She found it.

Kagome had to guess that it was close midnight when she arrived at the small restaurant. It's front sign was still lit and there were a couple people sitting at the booths enjoying a cup of coffee. She saw the jolly pot-bellied owner turn around to a couple at the cash register with a joyful grin on his face. He was wearing an apron again that was spotted here and there with grease.

Looking around the place, she saw that he was working alone that evening as well. She watched him for a moment, juggling between cooking in the back kitchen and serving the customers. He was working as if his life depended on it while still greeting the customers with a welcoming smile.

Making up her mind, she brushed the dirt off her cloak and yukata. Taking her mask off her face, she quickly lowered the hood of her cloak and tied the cloth over her ears like a bandana.

Giving herself a once over she entered the restaurant, "_Konbanwa_ Bibbo-san, sorry I'm late."

~~~Chapter 5 End~~~

**Ok, so I think that this is a sign that every chapter will be at least this long.**

**Also, I'm sorry this chapter took so long to come out. A lot of things had happened in my family and we have all been under a lot of stress, which is why I had to postpone this chapter for a while.**

**Anyway, I'm glad that many of you Reviewed and Favorited so far. I love it!**

**Happy Readings!**


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